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[Impact of asthma among primary attention children]
Claudia Velástegui1, Paula Pérez-Canto, Víctor Zárate
1Departamento de Medicina Familiar del Niño, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. clovelastegui@gmail.com
Insights
Asthma significantly impacts children's quality of life and healthcare use, particularly for severe cases. This study highlights increased medical attention and school absenteeism in asthmatic children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric pulmonology
- Health economics
- Quality of life research
Context:
- Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease affecting children globally.
- It significantly impacts daily life, healthcare utilization, and associated costs.
- Understanding these impacts is crucial for effective management and resource allocation.
Purpose:
- To assess the economic and quality of life burden of asthma in children.
- To evaluate the impact on primary healthcare expenses, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and resource utilization.
- To identify factors influencing these impacts, such as asthma severity.
Summary:
- A 12-month follow-up study of 56 children (ages 6-14) with asthma was conducted.
- Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and disease severity were assessed using validated questionnaires.
- Costs were calculated based on medical visits, hospitalizations, medication, and absenteeism (school and work).
Impact:
- Asthmatic children experienced twice the medical attention compared to the general population.
- Severe asthma cases showed significantly lower HRQOL scores and higher school absenteeism.
- The study underscores asthma's substantial impact on children's well-being and healthcare systems, especially for severe cases.
Background:
Asthma is one of the chronic diseases that generate an impact on quality of life and major health care expenses.
Aim:
To evaluate the impact of asthma on primary attention expenses, the health related quality of life (HRQOL) and the sanitary resources use.
Material And Methods:
Follow up of a cohort of 56 asthmatic children aged 6 to 14 years (56% women), during 12 months. The severity and the impact of the disease on HRQOL was assessed using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) video questionnaire and the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) respectively Costs were derived from the number of medical attentions, hospital admissions, medication requirements, school absenteeism among patients and work absenteeism among caregivers.
Results:
Patients required twice the number of medical attentions than the general population. Fourteen percent of children had severe asthma. Compared with subjects without severe asthma, the latter required more attentions (3.8 and 9.7 attentions per year respectively, p< 0.01), had a lower PAQLQ score (4.1 +/-0.11 and 5.2 +/- 1 respectively, p< 0.05) and a higher school absenteeism (10 and 27 days per year respectively, p < 0.01). Medication use was not different between patients with and without severe asthma. They early cost per patient was $ 106,550 (Chilean pesos).
Conclusions:
Asthma has a great impact on HRQOL and the use of primary attention resources, specially those children with severe asthma.
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