Discriminative aspects of SF-36 and QQL-EPM related to asthma control.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To study any discriminative properties of SF-36 and QQL-EPM in stable and non-controlled moderate asthmatic patients. METHODS: A total of 63 asthmatic patients were assessed regarding asthma symptoms, FEV1 % predicted value, PEF, ED visits and hospitalizations, QQL-EPM and SF-36 questionnaires. RESULTS: QQL-EPM highlighted significance in all domains to distinguish stable from non-controlled patients (p = 0.0001) while SF-36 was only significant in 3 of its 7 domains (p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: The study showed that the specific quality of life questionnaire for asthma (QQL-EPM) demonstrates better discriminative properties that characterize asthma control when compared with the more generic SF-36 questionnaire.