Longitudinal Relationships between Asthma-Specific Quality of Life and Asthma Control in Children; The Influence of Chronic Rhinitis

Managing pediatric asthma includes optimizing both asthma control and asthma-specific quality of life (QoL). However, it is unclear to what extent asthma-specific QoL is related to asthma control or other clinical characteristics over time. The aims of this study were to assess in children longitudinally: (1) the association between asthma control and asthma-specific QoL and (2) the relationship between clinical characteristics and asthma-specific QoL. In a 12-month prospective study, asthma-specific QoL, asthma control, dynamic lung function indices, fractional exhaled nitric oxide, the occurrence of exacerbations, and the use of rescue medication were assessed every 2 months. Associations between the clinical characteristics and asthma-specific QoL were analyzed using linear mixed models. At baseline, the QoL symptom score was worse in children with asthma and concomitant chronic rhinitis compared to asthmatic children without chronic rhinitis. An improvement of asthma control was longitudinally associated with an increase in asthma-specific QoL (p-value < 0.01). An increased use of β(2)-agonists, the occurrence of wheezing episodes in the year before the study, the occurrence of an asthma exacerbation in the 2 months prior to a clinical visit, and a deterioration of lung function correlated significantly with a decrease in the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) total score (p-values ≤ 0.01). Chronic rhinitis did not correlate with changes in the PAQLQ score over 1 year. The conclusion was that asthma control and asthma-specific QoL were longitudinally associated, but were not mutually interchangeable. The presence of chronic rhinitis at baseline did influence QoL symptom scores. β(2)-agonist use and exacerbations before and during the study were inversely related to the asthma-specific QoL over time.