Children and parent perceptions of childhood asthma

Quality of life (QOL) instruments measure the impact of disease on a patient's daily activities and life. Well validated asthma-specific quality of life instruments have largely been used in clinical research. This study used Paediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) and the Paediatric Asthma Caregiver's Quality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ) with scores range from 1 to 7. The authors compared the QOL scores achieved by children aged 7-17 years with the views of their parents of the effects of their child's asthma on family life. A hundred two children aged 7.1-17 years (mean, 11.05 years) with atopic asthma and their parents completed questionnaires. There was poor correlation between activity limitation (r 0.3655), emotional function (r 0.-1344) and overall QOL scores (r 0.10359 of the children and the parent. Our study showed no correlation between the parents' PACQLQ scores and the children's PAQLQ scores, both for total scores and for the subset of the exercise and emocional domain. It is important to recognize that there may be little relationship between the concerns of the child regarding of his or her asthma and the effects on the family as reported by a parent.