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Health-Related Quality of Life of Children with Asthma: Self and Parental Perceptions

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to explore whether age, gender, asthma severity, asthma duration, and exposure to parental smoking were associated with levels of asthma-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Greek children with asthma and to identify any differences between self- and proxy ratings of asthma-specific HRQoL.

Method

One hundred and seventy-three (173) children with asthma (8–12 years old) and their parents completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Asthma Module self- and proxy measures.

Results

Asthma severity, age, and asthma duration explained almost half of the variance in asthma-specific HRQoL scores according to self- and proxy reports. Older male children with more severe asthma who were diagnosed for a longer period of time and had at least one smoking parent reported lower asthma-specific HRQoL according to self- and proxy reports. Although children and their parents seemed to agree in their views of asthma-specific HRQoL, there were significant differences in ratings of specific parameters of asthma-specific HRQoL.

Conclusion

This study identifies the factors that account for a significant variance in asthma-specific HRQoL scores according to self- and proxy reports and is among the first to record the effect of parental smoking on children’s and parents’ perceptions of asthma-specific HRQoL.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Prof Maria Eboriadou for facilitating the data collection process. We are also grateful to all the children with asthma and their parents for their participation in the study and the hospital staff for their patience and hospitality. Finally, we would like to thank the editor and the reviewers for their valuable comments that helped improve the manuscript’s quality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. City College, Department of Psychology, The International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, 24 Proxenou Koromila Street, 546 22, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Efrosini Kalyva & Aikaterini Papathanasiou

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Christine Eiser

Authors
  1. Efrosini Kalyva
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  2. Christine Eiser
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  3. Aikaterini Papathanasiou
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Correspondence to Efrosini Kalyva.

Ethics declarations

Efrosini Kalyva, Christine Eiser, and Aikaterini Papathanasiou have conformed to the Helsinki Declaration concerning human rights and informed consent, and they followed correct procedures concerning treatment of humans in research.

Conflict of interest

Efrosini Kalyva, Christine Eiser, and Aikaterini Papathanasiou declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Kalyva, E., Eiser, C. & Papathanasiou, A. Health-Related Quality of Life of Children with Asthma: Self and Parental Perceptions. Int.J. Behav. Med. 23, 730–737 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-016-9558-7

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