Health-Related Quality of Life of Children with Asthma: Self and Parental Perceptions.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore whether age, gender, asthma severity, asthma duration, and exposure to parental smoking were associated with levels of asthma-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Greek children with asthma and to identify any differences between self- and proxy ratings of asthma-specific HRQoL.

Method: One hundred and seventy-three (173) children with asthma (8-12 years old) and their parents completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Asthma Module self- and proxy measures.

Results: Asthma severity, age, and asthma duration explained almost half of the variance in asthma-specific HRQoL scores according to self- and proxy reports. Older male children with more severe asthma who were diagnosed for a longer period of time and had at least one smoking parent reported lower asthma-specific HRQoL according to self- and proxy reports. Although children and their parents seemed to agree in their views of asthma-specific HRQoL, there were significant differences in ratings of specific parameters of asthma-specific HRQoL.

Conclusion: This study identifies the factors that account for a significant variance in asthma-specific HRQoL scores according to self- and proxy reports and is among the first to record the effect of parental smoking on children's and parents' perceptions of asthma-specific HRQoL.