Factors associated with quality of life in patients with severe asthma: the impact of pharmacotherapy

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To identify, characterize, and quantify associations of various factors with quality of life (QoL) in patients with asthma, according to the pharmacotherapy employed. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study involving 49 patients (≥ 18 years of age) with severe uncontrolled or refractory asthma treated at a specialized outpatient clinic of the Brazilian Unified Health Care System, regularly using high doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICs) or other medications, and presenting comorbidities. At a single time point, QoL was assessed with the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ). The overall AQLQ score and those of its domains were correlated with demographic variables (gender and age); Asthma Control Questionnaire score; pharmacotherapy (initial IC dose, inhaler devices, and polytherapy); and comorbidities. RESULTS: Better AQLQ scores were associated with asthma control-overall (OR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.004-0.341; p < 0.001), "symptoms" domain (OR = 0.086; 95% CI: 0.016-0.476; p = 0.001), and "emotional function" domain (OR = 0.086; 95% CI: 0.016-0.476; p = 0.001)-and with IC dose ≤ 800 µg-"activity limitation" domain (OR = 0.249; 95% CI: 0.070-0.885; p = 0.029). Worse AQLQ scores were associated with polytherapy-"activity limitation" domain (OR = 3.651; 95% CI: 1.061-12.561; p = 0.036)-and number of comorbidities ≤ 5-"environmental stimuli" domain (OR = 5.042; 95% CI: 1.316-19.317; p = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: Our results, the importance of this issue, and the lack of studies taking pharmacotherapy into consideration warrant longitudinal studies to establish a causal relationship between the identified factors and QoL in asthma patients.

Pharmacist Led Intervention on Inhalation Technique among Asthmatic Patients for Improving Quality of Life in a Private Hospital of Nepal

“…ACQ consists of seven questions and six responses in which one equal to totally controlled and six equal to extremely poorly controlled. e mean score of ≥1.5 indicates uncontrolled asthma and <1.5 indicates controlled asthma [12]. e patients were interviewed based on Hindi version of miniAQLQ and ACQ.…”

The relationship between asthma control and health-related quality of life in asthma and the role of atopy: a cross-sectional study of Nigerian adult asthmatics

“…Asthma control has been reported to determine HRQoL [ 4 , 5 ], with correlation coefficient that ranges from (r = 0.49 to 0.78) [ 6 ]. Several other factors such as clinical, demographical and psychological factors have been documented to contribute to HRQoL [ 7 , 8 ], besides asthma control, however little data exists on the contribution of atopy to HRQoL in asthmatics. Nevertheless, atopic asthma is the commonest, most widely studied and remains the strongest risk factor for asthma [ 9 , 10 ].…”