Health-related quality of life and its associated factors among patients with asthma: A multi-centered cross-sectional study in selected referral hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Patients with asthma have a compromised health-related quality of life (HRQoL) due to factors related sociodemographic, clinical, and environmental factors. This study assessed the HRQoL and its determinants in patients with asthma in selected public referral hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A multicenter facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in selected hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia from August to October 2021. Participants were enrolled in the study using a systematic random sampling technique. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: HRQoL was assessed using the asthma-specific quality of life tool Mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (Mini-AQLQ). Simple and multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between independent variables and HRQoL. A p-value of < 0.05 at 95% CI was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 409 patients were included in the final analysis, and more than half (59.2%) of the subjects had a good health-related quality of life. Regarding HRQoL determinants, asthma control score (β = 0.14, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.17; p 0.001), insurance user (β = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.29); p = 0.042), the high role of patient enablement (β = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.25, 0.54; p 0.001), belief in asthma medication (β = -0.23, 95% CI: -0.36, -0.10;p = 0.001), non-adherence to guidelines (β = -0.30, 95% CI: -0.47, -0.15; p < 0.001), and being homemaker (β = -0.21, 95% CI: -0.39, -0.01; p = 0.040) were the significant predictors of HRQoL. CONCLUSION: Overall, more than half of the study participants were found to have good HRQoL. HRQoL among adults with asthma was largely dependent on the level of asthma control. Socio-demographic, clinical, healthcare-related, and medication-related variables were significantly associated with health-related quality of life. Therefore, healthcare providers should include comprehensive asthma education along with an integrated treatment plan to improve asthma control and the HRQoL of patients.