title: Quality of life--how do Malaysian asthmatics fare?
abstract: Asthma can place considerable restrictions on the physical, emotional and social aspects of the lives of patients. The assessment of quality of life aims to provide a means of measuring the impact of this disease on patients' lives, from the patients' perspective. A cross sectional multi-centre study was conducted in six government hospitals throughout the country. Self-administered SF-36 was used, and clinical information obtained through interviews and examination. 1612 asthmatics responded. Females constituted 63% of the respondents; mean age was 40.9 years; Malays were the majority ethnic group, while 70.8% had secondary level education and 53.7% were employed. Half had suffered from asthma for at least 13 years, while 46.8% and 23.6% have moderate and severe disease respectively. Quality of life was affected by severity of disease. Asthmatics, had a significantly poorer quality of life than the general US population. Severe asthma disease was associated with a compromised quality of life, similar to that of COPD.
authors.affiliation: Health Systems Research Division, Institute of Public Health, 50590 Kuala Lumpur.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sararaks
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rugayah
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Azman
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Karuthan
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Low
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires