Quality of life in severe asthma measured by SAQ and EQ5D questionnaires as a function of clinically relevant cut off points

Background: The burden of living with severe asthma is under-appreciated by clinicians due to a past lack of health related quality of life (HRQoL) measures designed for these patients. The Severe Asthma Questionnaire (SAQ) is a new valid HRQoL disease-specific severe asthma scale. The EQ5D is a generic HRQol scale. Methods: We collected cross-sectional data in patients (≥ 18 years old) from 6 UK severe asthma centres. The SAQ and EQ-5D-5L were compared as a function of exacerbations and systemic steroid burden in the preceding 12 months. Results: 395 patients completed the SAQ and 309 the EQ5D. Patients with ≥4 exacerbations compared with 0.70, p Conclusions: This study quantifies the increased HRQoL deficit of patients living with severe asthma who have higher compared to lower exacerbations and have higher compared to lower cumulative steroid burden at clinically relevant cut-off points. The difference in deficit is demonstrated for both disease specific and generic HRQol scales.