Health-related quality of life and parental depression in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

BACKGROUND Impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a common problem in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but there is limited data on HRQoL in children with PAH. We aimed to investigate the QoL, determine the potential risk factors for poor HRQoL in children with PAH, and assess the depression and anxiety of their families. METHODS We performed a prospective cross-sectional study of children with PAH, healthy peers, and their parents. HRQoL was measured by the self-reported and age-adapted KINDL questionnaire. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) were used to assess the depression and anxiety of parents. RESULTS Children with PAH had statistically lower total HRQoL scores than healthy peers (p   0.05). CONCLUSION We demonstrated impairment of HRQoL of children with PAH. In addition, there was a correlation between the depression of the families and the QoL of the children.