Specific immunotherapy improves asthma related quality of life in childhood.

BACKGROUND Asthma is the most common chronic illness in childhood and really affects the everyday life of patients who suffer from it. Since asthma is a common disease, there is a great endeavour to achieve the most appropriate treatment option. Despite inhaled corticosteroids and leukotrien receptor antagonists both being routinely used in asthma treatment, specific immunotherapy is still questioned. There are numerous aspects affecting asthma-related quality of life, such as age; seasons; disease control and severity etc, which are well studied -apart from the type of treatment. With this study we aimed to stress the influence of asthma treatment on quality of life. METHODS A total of 102 children, aged 6-18 years, were assigned to classic asthma therapy (n=50) and specific immunotherapy (n=52). The quality of life is assessed using the Standardized Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) interviewer-administered Turkish version. Pulmonary function testing was performed on the same day, after the questionnaire was completed. RESULTS The PAQLQ total scores were significantly higher in the specific immunotherapy group (p<0.001). Apart from emotional function domain scores; symptoms domain and activity limitation domain scores were higher in the specific immunotherapy group. Emotional function domain scores were similar in the two groups (p>0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in pulmonary function testing results between the two groups (p>0.05). There was a linear correlation between FEV1%, FVC level and total and domain scores of PAQLQ with Spearman Correlation tests.