Quality of life in rhinoconjunctivitis assessed with generic and disease-specific questionnaires.
BACKGROUND
Illness as perceived by the allergic patient with asthma and/or rhinoconjunctivitis (RC) can be assessed by measurements of their health-related quality of life (HRQL). For this purpose the RC Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) has gained general acceptance; however, as most allergic patients experience symptoms from multiple organs, disease-specific HRQL measures may be deficient. This study compares a generic and a disease-specific HRQL instrument in grass and/or mite-allergic patients.


METHODS
Two hundred and forty-eight patients with RC and 121 patients with both RC and asthma were studied. Questionnaire information was obtained about allergy-related RQLQ and a generic 15-dimensional instrument for measuring HRQL (15D). Doctors provided general and disease-specific information to classify disease severity according to the global initiative for asthma and allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma guidelines.


RESULTS
Rhinoconjunctivitis patients with persistent moderate-to-severe disease had an impaired quality of life on all items of RQLQ during allergen exposure. The 15D mean score was 0.98 on a day without allergy and 0.83 on a day with allergy (P < 0.001). The correlation between 15D and RQLQ was r = -0.42 on a day with allergy (P < 0.001). Only 15D scores showed statistically significant differences in HRQL between patients with and without asthma.


CONCLUSIONS
During allergen exposure patients with RC experience a serious deterioration in HRQL measured with the disease-specific RQLQ instrument and the generic 15D instrument. The 15D instrument seems to generate a more comprehensive view of the impact of allergen exposure on patient's quality of life than RQLQ.
Petersen
K D
KD
Institute of Public Health, Health Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Kronborg
C
C
Gyrd-Hansen
D
D
Dahl
R
R
Larsen
J N
JN
Løwenstein
H
H
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003233:Conjunctivitis, Allergic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires