THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSESING PSYCHOSOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF ASTHMATIC PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES AS A COMPREHENSIVE ASTHMA CONTROL ASSESSMENT: A CASE CONTROL STUDY IN IRAN

The present study was conducted to compare the physical and psychosocial functions of asthmatic patients presenting at different levels of asthma control to that of healthy children in Iran. The aim was to determine if a correlation could be made between the two thus suggesting that the level of asthma control can be used as an indirect indicator for the level of psychosocial impact. A case-control study involving 160 asthmatic children aged between 8 to 12 years-old, in comparison to an age-sex matched healthy control group was thus conducted. The result demonstrates that asthmatic children are more likely to have emotional dysfunction associated with their disease. This in turn resulted in significantly negative effects on the parents’ daily working activities. The PedsQL scale which categorizes asthmatic children into three levels of asthma (controlled, partly-controlled and uncontrolled asthma) demonstrated significant differences in their Physical Function scale scores (p<0.05). However, no significant correlation between asthma control to Emotional, Social and School Functioning levels were found. In conclusion, the present study suggests that asthma not only impairs the Physical and Emotional functions of asthmatic children, but also affects their parents’ daily working activity. Tightening asthma control did not appear to improve the social functioning levels of these children although it does result in improved physical function. Therefore the level of asthma cannot be used as an indicator of heightened psychosocial impact. However, the authors of this paper would warrant that treating physicians should consider incorporating the psychosocial aspect of asthmatic children and their families in their treatment plan rather than aiming for only asthma control since this appears to be an important aspect of patient care.