title: The impact of influenza-like illness in young children on their parents: a quality of life survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Influenza-like illness can cause excess paediatric morbidity and burden on parents.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We determined the quality of life (QoL) impact of children's influenza-like illness (ILI) on their parents.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a prospective cohort study in childcare centres and a general practice in Sydney, Australia. Using PAR-ENT-QoL, we measured QoL of parents of children aged 6 months-3 years before the 2010 influenza season, then again for parents of children with ILI (ILI group) using SF-12v2 Acute Form and PAR-ENT-QoL, and contemporaneously for parents of aged-matched children without ILI (non-ILI group).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 381 children enrolled from 90 childcare centres, 105 developed ILI. PAR-ENT-QoL scores of the ILI group were significantly lower in the post-ILI follow-up interviews than at baseline (60.99 vs. 79.77, p < 0.001), and those of non-ILI group at follow-up interviews (60.99 vs. 84.05, p < 0.001). SF-12v2 scores of the ILI group were also significantly lower than those of non-ILI group: physical component summary (50.66 vs. 53.16, p = 0.011) and mental component summary (45.67 vs. 53.66, p < 0.001). Two factors were significantly associated with parental QoL: total time spent caring child during ILI and whether the child had severe ILI or not. Correlations between PAR-ENT-QoL and SF-12v2 scores were satisfactory.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parents had significantly lower QoL while their child had ILI, compared with before ILI and with parents of children without ILI. The public health impact of ILI in children on the QoL in families is far from negligible. QoL measurement can complement economic evaluation of ILI disease burden and provide a more complete picture of impact.
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, The Research Building, Kids Research Institute, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Locked Bag 4001, Westmead, Sydney, NSW, 2145, Australia, mariachow@ymail.com.
authors.forename: Maria Yui Kwan
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Jiehui Kevin
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Leon
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heron
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morrow
authors.forename: Alexa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dierig
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Booy
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leask
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010038:Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases / Q000150:complications; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000150:complications; D012621:Seasons; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*