Quality of life in children and adolescents with respiratory allergy, assessed with a generic and disease-specific instrument.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Respiratory allergic disorders like rhinitis and asthma are common conditions that not only affect target organs, but complicate the daily life of affected children and adolescents. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the QoL (quality of life) in children with grass pollen allergy in and out of grass pollen season. METHODS: We used the Pediatric Allergic Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire (PADQLQ), a disease-specific questionnaire including both asthma and rhinitis symptoms. We also used the DISABKIDS (a European project which aims at enhancing the quality of life and the independence of children with chronic health conditions and their families) questionnaire, a generic questionnaire covering non-organ-specific effects of disease. RESULTS: Ninety-eight children 7­18 years old with grass pollen allergy were included. Eighty-nine children (91%) completed the study. The QoL was significantly decreased during pollen season assessed both with DISABKIDS and PADQLQ. The correlation between the questionnaires was 0.73. Not only the physical domain score (P = 0.00093) but also the emotional domain score (P = 0.034) was significantly lowered. Children with multiple manifestations (asthma and rhinitis) had lower QoL than children with rhinitis alone (P = 0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed a highly significant impact on QoL for symptoms from nose, eyes and lungs. They were equally important (standardized coefficient 047, 0.47 and 0.46, respectively). CONCLUSION: The QoL in children and adolescents with respiratory allergy deteriorates during pollen season. This was shown both with generic (DISABKIDS) and disease-specific instrument (PADQLQ).