title: Pediatric asthma caregiver's quality of life questionnaire is a useful tool for monitoring asthma in children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is little agreement among researchers whether a caregiver's QOL can be used to detect changes in asthma severity in children. We assessed correlation between QOL in parents and QOL in children with asthma as well as clinical parameters of asthma. We determined whether changes in caregiver's QOL scores reflect changes in child's QOL and their asthma control.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a 9-week period cohort study. One hundred and ten primary caregivers with 110 children were seen in the clinic at enrollment, at week #1, #5 and #9. At each visit, the parents completed the pediatric asthma caregiver's quality of life questionnaire (PACQLQ).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and one children and 101 caregivers completed the study. We found a significant correlation between asthma diary score in children and QOL in parents (from r = -0.46 to r = -0.53). We also found significant positive correlation between PAQLQ and PACQLQ and significant association between changes in asthma control and PACQLQ score for both domains. We observed significant change in PACQLQ of caregivers whose children obtained asthma control.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PACQLQ is a useful tool for monitoring asthma in children. The implementation of the PACQLQ would be helpful in involving parents in therapy of their children with asthma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Allergy, Medical University of Lodz, N. Copernicus Hospital, 62 Pabianicka Str., 93-513, Lodz, Poland. alergol@kopernik.lodz.pl
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stelmach
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Podlecka
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smejda
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Majak
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jerzyńska
authors.forename: Rafał
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stelmach
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Janas
authors.forename: Włodzimierz
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stelmach
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000523:psychology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult