Health-related quality of life and its associated factors among patients with asthma: A multi-centered cross-sectional study in selected referral hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Patients with asthma have a compromised health-related quality of life (HRQoL) due to factors related sociodemographic, clinical, and environmental factors. This study assessed the HRQoL and its determinants in patients with asthma in selected public referral hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A multicenter facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in selected hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia from August to October 2021. Participants were enrolled in the study using a systematic random sampling technique. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: HRQoL was assessed using the asthma-specific quality of life tool Mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (Mini-AQLQ). Simple and multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between independent variables and HRQoL. A p-value of < 0.05 at 95% CI was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 409 patients were included in the final analysis, and more than half (59.2%) of the subjects had a good health-related quality of life. Regarding HRQoL determinants, asthma control score (ß = 0.14, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.17; p 0.001), insurance user (ß = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.29); p = 0.042), the high role of patient enablement (ß = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.25, 0.54; p 0.001), belief in asthma medication (ß = -0.23, 95% CI: -0.36, -0.10;p = 0.001), non-adherence to guidelines (ß = -0.30, 95% CI: -0.47, -0.15; p < 0.001), and being homemaker (ß = -0.21, 95% CI: -0.39, -0.01; p = 0.040) were the significant predictors of HRQoL. CONCLUSION: Overall, more than half of the study participants were found to have good HRQoL. HRQoL among adults with asthma was largely dependent on the level of asthma control. Socio-demographic, clinical, healthcare-related, and medication-related variables were significantly associated with health-related quality of life. Therefore, healthcare providers should include comprehensive asthma education along with an integrated treatment plan to improve asthma control and the HRQoL of patients.

Level of asthma control and its determinants among adults living with asthma attending selected public hospitals in northwestern, Ethiopia: using an ordinal logistic regression model.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a major public health challenge and is characterized by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing that vary in severity and frequency from person to person. Asthma control is an important measure of health outcomes of the patients with asthma and reflecting the impact of an illness and its treatment from the patient's perspective. Therefore, this study assessed the asthma control levels and their determinants among adults living with asthma in selected public referral hospitals in northwestern Ethiopia. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A multicenter institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted in North-western Ethiopia, from October to December 2021. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to recruit the study participants. Bi-variable and multivariable ordinal logistic regression was used to determine the independent predictors of asthma control levels. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULT: A total of 409 patients were included in the final analysis. Asthma was controlled by 28.9% with 95%CI (24.7, 33.5) people who have asthma. Regarding the potential predictor of asthma control level, being male (AOR = 6.5, 95%CI (1.28, 32.44), Married (AOR = 3.62, 95%CI (1.28, 10.27), healthcare provider adherence to guideline usage (AOR = 8.4,95%CI (2.7, 26) and non-fuel users (AOR = 6.0, 95%CI (1.5, 22.5) were variables that increase asthma control. However, non-adherent to medication (AOR = 0.16, 95%CI (0.059, 0.48), low level of patient enablement (AOR = 0.19, (95%CI) (0.08, 0.49) and poor relationship with healthcare provider (AOR = 0.024,95%CI (0.02, 0.23) were variables that significantly decreased asthma control level. CONCLUSION: The findings indicated that asthma control remains suboptimal in a large proportion of patients with asthma in the study setting. Socio-demographic, clinical, healthcare-related, and medication-related variables were significantly associated with asthma control. Therefore, our study highlights multifaceted interventions, including comprehensive asthma education along with an integrated treatment plan to improve asthma control and quality of life.