ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Childhood asthma is one of the most frequent chronic inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract and can have profound effects on emotional, and economical aspects not only for childhood asthma patients, but also the patient's caregivers. It was also performed has been done in Korea in 1999 under the supervision of The Korean Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Respiratory Disease (KAPARD). We compared and evaluated the data from the questionnaire between 1999 and 2007 in order to obtain the pilot data for a nation-wide study on the life quality of childhood asthma caregivers. METHODS: We selected childhood asthma patients at the Department of Pediatrics, Hanyang University Seoul Hospital and Guri Hospital. The contents and categories of the questionnaire were identical with the one developed by KAPARD, the questionnaire were filled up twice at first & second visit, divided into emotion and activity domains. All items were rated on a 5 scores from 1 to 5: 1, a lower quality of life; and 5, a satisfactory quality of life. For the validity of the study, the caregivers filled up the first and the second questionnaire at least at 1-week intervals the measurement of forced expiratory volume 1 (FEV1) at each time and also added an item in the second questionnaire which compared the difference between 2 visits, subsequently scoring +5 for the most improved state, -5 for the most aggravated state and 0 for the stationary state. RESULTS: In this study, may higher scores in the second visit suggested successful management of asthma may contribute to the improvement in the caregiver's quality of life. Particularly, items such as "Frustration", "Embarrassment", "Worry about daily works" and "Concern about side effect of medicine" have been improved in the emotion domain, and "sleepless", "Night awakening", and "Disturbance of housework" in the activity domain. Between 1999 and 2007, "Concerning", and "Concern about ordinary works" has been improved in the first visit, and "Disturbance of houseworks", "Worry about daily works" and "Concern about side effects of medicine" in the second visit. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that there may be no significant different items regarding the quality of life between the stable and changed groups, suggesting that our questionnaire can be applicable to clinical practice.