Quality of life--how do Malaysian asthmatics fare?

Asthma can place considerable restrictions on the physical, emotional and social aspects of the lives of patients. The assessment of quality of life aims to provide a means of measuring the impact of this disease on patients' lives, from the patients' perspective. A cross sectional multi-centre study was conducted in six government hospitals throughout the country. Self-administered SF-36 was used, and clinical information obtained through interviews and examination. 1612 asthmatics responded. Females constituted 63% of the respondents; mean age was 40.9 years; Malays were the majority ethnic group, while 70.8% had secondary level education and 53.7% were employed. Half had suffered from asthma for at least 13 years, while 46.8% and 23.6% have moderate and severe disease respectively. Quality of life was affected by severity of disease. Asthmatics, had a significantly poorer quality of life than the general US population. Severe asthma disease was associated with a compromised quality of life, similar to that of COPD.