A hospital-based case-control study of quality of life in older asthmatics

Asthma is a common but neglected problem in older people, the impact of which is relatively unstudied. The aim of this study was to objectively assess quality of life and depression in older asthmatics. The subjects studied were 50 hospitalized known asthmatics, over 55 yrs of age (mean age 72 yrs). Of these, 40 had objective evidence of asthma, and were compared to 40 age- and sex-matched controls. Using a structured questionnaire, the Geriatric Depression Score, subjective health status (short form (SF)-36), and other comparative disability data were recorded. Spirometric results were also recorded. Depressive symptoms were common in both groups but were not significantly different. Mean SF-36 scores were significantly worse in the asthmatics, especially for components of physical function (p = 0.04), physical role limitation (p = 0.01), energy (p = 0.01), health change (p = 0.01), and general health perception (p = 0.01). However mental, mental role and social scores were similar in both groups. We conclude that quality of life is impaired in hospitalized asthmatics compared to controls. Physical components appear to be most adversely affected. Depressive symptoms are common but no overall difference was found for psychological disability. Older asthmatics appear to adapt well to adverse situations.