Quality of life in Chinese children with developmental dyslexia: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to compare the quality of life (QoL) between Chinese developmental dyslexia (DD) and healthy children. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: The participants were recruited from grades 3–6 in six primary schools in Tianmen, a city of Hubei Province, China. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 5679 students were recruited. After excluding children with visual and auditory dysfunction or psychiatric diseases or with a response rate on the scales or questionnaires of less than 90%, 5352 children were finally included in the analysis. DD children were diagnosed according to their clinical symptoms, which were mainly assessed by the Dyslexia Checklist for Chinese Children and the Pupil Rating Scale Revised Screening for Learning Disabilities. OUTCOME MEASURES: The QoL for DD and healthy children was appraised by the Quality of Life Scale for Children and Adolescents (QLSCA). Outcome measures included its four domain scores (psychosocial function, physiological and mental health, living environment and satisfaction with QoL) and total score. RESULTS: A total of 186 children were diagnosed with DD. The distribution of DD children in five levels of QoL was statistically different from that of healthy children (χ(2)=57.63, p<0.001). Compared with healthy children, the proportion of poor or worse QoL in DD was higher, and the proportion of moderate, better or good QoL was lower. The total QLSCA score in DD children was 3.475 lower than that in healthy children (B=−3.475, p=0.006). Psychosocial function, physiological and mental health, living environment and satisfaction with QoL of DD children were also inferior to those of healthy children. CONCLUSION: The QoL of DD was significantly lower than that of healthy children, prompting more public efforts to improve DD QoL.