Purpose: To develop and validate a questionnaire that measures health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC).
Design: Prospective, observational case series.
Methods: An initial list of 42 items was developed and administered to 30 children with active VKC (six girls and 24 boys; mean age, nine +/- two years). The 30 most significant items were selected and converted into questions on a three-step scale for validation in 41 children with active VKC (eight girls and 33 boys; mean age, 9.5 +/- 2.1 years). Twenty-two children also completed the generic KINDL questionnaire. Clinical signs were evaluated and scored and total sign scores (TSSs) were calculated. Validation was performed by factorial analysis and Pearson correlation. Internal consistency was computed by the Chronbach alpha on the extracted factors.
Results: Factorial analysis extracted two factors with good internal consistency: symptoms (12 items; alpha = 0.89) and daily activities (four items; alpha = 0.77). Correlations of Quality of Life in Children with Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis (QUICK) scores to KINDL scores were in the expected direction. Most patients reported itching (93%), burning (90%), redness (90%), the need to use eye drops (90%), tearing (83%), and photophobia (80%). The children's greatest concerns were limitations on going to the pool (71%), playing sports (58%), and meeting friends (58%). QUICK symptom scores were correlated significantly to conjunctival hyperemia (P < .001), secretion (P = .042), chemosis (P = .012), superficial punctate keratopathy (P < .001), and TSS (P = .010).
Conclusions: The QUICK questionnaire is a new, simple instrument to measure HRQoL in children with severe allergic conjunctivitis. This test is effective for the global evaluation of the impact of VKC on children's daily lives.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2007.06.028 | DOI Listing |
Histol Histopathol
January 2025
Department of Neurology, The Affiliated People's Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang Jiangsu, PR China.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a limb movement disorder caused by the degeneration of brain neurons and seriously affects the quality of life of the elderly. However, the current drugs are symptomatic treatments that cannot prevent or delay the development of the disease. Targeted therapy for pathogenesis may be the direction of development in the future.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPalliat Support Care
January 2025
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
Objectives: Explore humanitarian healthcare professionals' (HCPs) perceptions about implementing children's palliative care and to identify their educational needs and challenges, including learning topics, training methods, and barriers to education.
Methods: Humanitarian HCPs were interviewed about perspectives on children's palliative care and preferences and needs for training. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and arranged into overarching themes.
Palliat Support Care
January 2025
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
Objectives: People with life-limiting diseases, who are no longer receiving active or curable treatment, often state their preferred place of care and death as the home. This requires coordinating a multidisciplinary approach, using available health and social care services to synchronize care. Family caregivers are key to enabling home-based end-of-life support; however, the 2 elements that facilitate success - coordination and family caregiver - are not necessarily associated as being intertwined or one and the same.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurobiol Pain
December 2024
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Joint pain is the primary symptom of osteoarthritis (OA) and the main motivator for patients to seek medical care. OA-related pain significantly restricts joint function and diminishes quality of life. Despite the availability of various pain-relieving medications for OA, current treatment strategies often fall short in delivering adequate pain relief.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Psychol
January 2025
Department of Psychology, Rey Juan Carlos University, Alcorcón, Spain.
Introduction: Suffering from chronic pain (CP) and coping with parenthood can be challenging for parental mental health. Pain can hinder the ability to deal with demands related to parenthood, which can negatively affect their psychological well-being because of unmet caregiving expectations.
Methods: Considering the limited amount of research regarding the mental health of parents with CP, the study's main aim was to test a predictive model based on previous scientific literature, using structural equation analysis, in which parental competence and parental guilt partially mediate the relationship between parental stress and depression.
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