Assessment of Quality of Life in Bronchial Asthma Patients

Abstract

Introduction Asthma, a well-known chronic respiratory disease, is common worldwide. This study aimed to assess the quality of life in bronchial asthma patients and to determine the factors leading to poor quality of life among these patients. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at a public sector hospital. The sample size was calculated as 134, with a nonprobability consecutive sampling technique. The Ethical Review Committee approved the study protocol. Demographic and asthma quality of life data were collected via a questionnaire. Data were analyzed IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 19.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). Multivariate logistic regression was performed to observed the effect of these variables on the poor quality of life. A regression coefficient and odds ratio with a confidence interval of 95% and P-value ≤ .05 were taken as significant. Results The average age of patients was 40.6 ± 9.5 years. In this study, 96 of 134 patients (71.4%) with bronchial asthma reported a poor quality of life. In the univariate analysis, advanced age (≥ 40 years), obesity, being female, family history of asthma, pets at home, and moderate severity of asthma significantly contributed to poor quality of life. Multivariate logistic regression was performed, and it was observed that advanced age (≥ 40 years), being female, a pet at home, and moderate severity of asthma were four to 13 times more likely to predict a poor quality of life for patients with bronchial asthma. Conclusions The severity of asthma significantly contributed to poor quality of life. Health facilitators should look into the causes of such risk to increase the perception of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among asthma patients.