Background: A study was undertaken to investigate quality of life in asthma, defined by differing criteria, to see which may be most appropriate in epidemiological studies. Methods: The 426 adults were participants in the follow up phase of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) in Melbourne. As part of the laboratory visit, participants completed the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire, a detailed respiratory questionnaire, and underwent lung function testing. Results: Both the physical component summary and the mental component summary scores were significantly worse in those with wheeze in the previous 12 months than in those without wheeze. Only the mental component summary score was significantly worse in those with current asthma than in those without. In contrast, in those with current asthma or bronchial hyperreactivity only, neither of the summary scales was significantly different between cases and controls. Conclusions: Quality of life is severely impaired in individuals with wheeze in the previous 12 months while individuals with current asthma or bronchial hyperreactivity alone did not appear to have significantly reduced quality of life.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Research Group:	Cardiovascular medicine and haematology
Research Field:	Respiratory diseases
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Clinical health
Objective Field:	Clinical health not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Walters, EH (Professor Haydn Walters)
ID Code:	24380
Year Published:	2002
Web of Science® Times Cited:	15
Deposited By:	Medicine
Deposited On:	2002-08-01
Last Modified:	2003-06-16
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