Health-related quality of life in adolescents with wheezing attacks

The purpose of this study was to evaluate health-related quality of life in adolescents with wheezing attacks using self-reported data, and to determine independent associations between wheezing attacks and quality of life using multivariate linear regression models.

Our study sample included 933 of 1071 eligible adolescents who participated in a study in two Municipal Health Services in The Netherlands. Wheezing was defined based on selected questions from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Quality of life was measured using the Child Health Questionnaire-Child Form (CHQ-CF). Higher scores indicated better quality of life.

According to the adolescents, 72 (7.7%) and 24 (2.6%) had less than four and, at least four wheezing attacks during the past year, respectively. Compared with adolescents who never wheezed, adolescents with wheezing attacks had significantly lower quality of life scores for nine out of 10 CHQ-CF scales. Except for the Role Physical and Family Activities scales, relevant differences in quality of life were observed for all scales among adolescents who reported at least four wheezing attacks during the past year; most affected were the Bodily Pain, General Health, Self Esteem, and Mental Health scales. In multivariate linear regression models, wheezing attacks remained significantly associated with quality of life for nine out of 10 CHQ-CF scales.

Wheezing attacks are independently associated with several dimensions of health-related quality of life in adolescents. Specifically, the presence of at least four wheezing attacks during the past year was associated with relevant deficits in quality of life.