title: Population-based study shows that teenage girls with asthma had impaired health-related quality of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of teenagers with and without asthma, including the impact of their sex, allergic conditions, smoking, living conditions and physical activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Obstructive Lung Disease in Northern Sweden (OLIN) studies recruited a cohort of schoolchildren in 2006. The parents of all children aged seven to eight years in three municipalities were invited to complete a questionnaire and 2585 (96%) participated. The cohort was followed up at the ages of 11-12 years and 14-15 years with high participation rates. At 14-15 years, the HRQoL questionnaire KIDSCREEN-10 and Asthma Control Test were added.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Girls with current asthma at 14-15 years had a lower mean HRQoL score than girls without asthma (46.4 versus 49.3, p < 0.001), but this was not seen among boys (53.8 versus 52.8, p = 0.373). Poor HRQoL was related to current asthma, uncontrolled asthma and teenage onset of asthma. It was also related to eczema, living in a single-parent household, maternal smoking, daily smoking and inversely related to physical activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Teenage girls with asthma had lower HRQoL than girls without asthma. Possible interventions to improve HRQoL among teenagers with asthma were identified as follows: increasing asthma control, preventing smoking and promoting physical activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, The OLIN Unit, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.|Department of Health Sciences, Division of Nursing, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Linnea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hedman
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Division of Nursing, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stridsman
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, The OLIN Unit, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, The OLIN Unit, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Backman
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, The OLIN Unit, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sven-Arne
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Jansson
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, The OLIN Unit, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rönmark
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Asthma control; Health-related quality of life; Physical activity; Smoking; Teenagers