Predicting moderate improvement and decline in pediatric asthma quality of life over 24 months

To determine factors associated with 24-month change in quality of life in children with asthma and their parents during the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP).

Participants from 4 CAMP clinical centers were administered the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life questionnaire and protocol measures of asthma symptoms, lung function, and psychological measures.

Multivariate logistic regression analyses determined predictors of moderate change in quality of life. Subclinical levels of depression predicted moderate improvement in child-reported quality of life. Level of depressed affect together with clinical asthma features predicted moderate decline. Improvement in parent quality of life was predicted by perception of illness burden, whereas family features and a child missing school predicted moderate decline.

This ancillary study provided an opportunity to examine the determinants of 24-month change in parent and child of quality of life within a subset of the CAMP participants. Moderate changes in quality of life occur in clinical studies and have both psychosocial correlates and illness characteristics.