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

Abstract

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.

Mental disorders and asthma in the elderly: a population‐based study

“…Very few studies have included the elderly, who have differing psychopathology and patterns of psychiatric morbidity from the young. Only two studies have investigated the relationship between depression and asthma in the elderly (Dwyer and Sinclair, 1997;Wong et al, 2006), and although Dwyer and Sinclair (1997) reported more depressive symptoms in asthma patients compared to healthy controls, the result was statistically insignificant because of small sample size.…”

Symptoms, Quality of Life, and Health Service Contact among Young Adults with Mild Asthma

“…It may be the case that the strong relationship found between impaired QoL and more severe asthma (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7) does not apply to patients with mild asthma. On the other hand, asthma is a variable disease.…”

Depression in Asthma: Prevalence and Clinical Implications

“…Given the very small number of studies examining the use of antidepressants in asthma patients, we used less stringent inclusion criteria and discuss studies published prior to 1975. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] examining the prevalence of depressive symptoms in asthma patients met our inclusion criteria (see Table 1). Six of these were controlled studies, [32][33][34][35][36]38 and all but 1 of these 32 presented data consistent with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in asthma patients than in control groups.…”

“…[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] examining the prevalence of depressive symptoms in asthma patients met our inclusion criteria (see Table 1). Six of these were controlled studies, [32][33][34][35][36]38 and all but 1 of these 32 presented data consistent with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in asthma patients than in control groups. In the largest of the controlled studies, Badoux and Levy 34 administered the Brief Symptom Inventory, a self-report questionnaire, to asthma patients (N = 102), normal controls (N = 252), and socially isolated individuals (N = 383) and found that asthma patients had significantly higher scores (p < .005) than normal controls, but lower scores than socially isolated individuals (p < .001).…”