title: Health-Related Quality of Life of Children with Asthma: Self and Parental Perceptions.
abstract: This study aimed to explore whether age, gender, asthma severity, asthma duration, and exposure to parental smoking were associated with levels of asthma-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Greek children with asthma and to identify any differences between self- and proxy ratings of asthma-specific HRQoL.
  
  
  
  One hundred and seventy-three (173) children with asthma (8-12 years old) and their parents completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Asthma Module self- and proxy measures.
  
  
  
  Asthma severity, age, and asthma duration explained almost half of the variance in asthma-specific HRQoL scores according to self- and proxy reports. Older male children with more severe asthma who were diagnosed for a longer period of time and had at least one smoking parent reported lower asthma-specific HRQoL according to self- and proxy reports. Although children and their parents seemed to agree in their views of asthma-specific HRQoL, there were significant differences in ratings of specific parameters of asthma-specific HRQoL.
  
  
  
  This study identifies the factors that account for a significant variance in asthma-specific HRQoL scores according to self- and proxy reports and is among the first to record the effect of parental smoking on children's and parents' perceptions of asthma-specific HRQoL.
authors.affiliation: City College, Department of Psychology, The International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, 24 Proxenou Koromila Street, 546 22, Thessaloniki, Greece. kalyva@city.academic.gr.
authors.forename: Efrosini
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kalyva
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eiser
authors.affiliation: City College, Department of Psychology, The International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, 24 Proxenou Koromila Street, 546 22, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Aikaterini
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papathanasiou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D011788:Quality of Life
keywords: Asthma; Children; Health-related quality of life; Parents; Smoking