The Impact of Uncontrolled Asthma on Absenteeism and Health-Related Quality of Life

Abstract

Uncontrolled asthma has far-reaching impact on the productivity and quality of life of asthma patients and their caregivers. Proper assessment, treatment, and disease management to improve asthma control may reduce the impact of uncontrolled asthma on asthmatic adults, children, and the caretakers of pediatric asthmatic patients.

Asthma and Health Related Quality of Life in Childhood and Adolescence

“…While there are several questionnaires for assessing parental/caregiver's health related quality of life not directly related to asthma (Osman & Silverman, 1996), there is only one instrument to examine the specific impact of childhood asthma on parental/caregiver functioning: The Pediatric Asthma Caregiver's Quality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ) . Whereas some studies find no association between caregiver's health related quality of life and children's asthma symptoms (Annett et al, 2003), duration of asthma illness and asthma pre-treatment severity (Vila et al, 2003), other studies report that caregiver's and child's health related quality of life are significantly associated with each other (Dean et al, 2009(Dean et al, , 2010Garro, 2011;Halterman et al, 2004). Halterman et al (2004) find that higher symptom levels with regard to childhood asthma are associated with lower parental health related quality of life.…”

“…Caregivers of asthmatic children appear to be more compromised in their resistance to stress, mood, emotional stability, amount of spare time and leisure activities (Garro, 2011). Caregivers of children with uncontrolled asthma report significantly higher absenteeism than their controlled counterparts (Dean et al, 2009(Dean et al, , 2010. Both caregiver's health related quality of life, caregiver's perception of the child's asthma symptoms, and the child's health related quality of life may be important in diagnosis and control of established asthma in childhood (Skoner, 2002).…”

Parents with Asthmatic Children, Quality of Life

“…One mechanism through which uncontrolled asthma may affect parents' QoL is via its negative influence on the parental work domain, with research showing that parents with children with uncontrolled asthma missed more days at work than parents with children with controlled asthma (Dean et al, 2009). Additionally, parents' QoL scores were negatively linked to the number of missed days at work (e.g., Walker et al, 2008).…”

“…Furthermore, studies report that parents show more impaired QoL when their children's asthma is uncontrolled, (e.g., Dean et al 2009;Stelmach et al, 2011). One mechanism through which uncontrolled asthma may affect parents' QoL is via its negative influence on the parental work domain, with research showing that parents with children with uncontrolled asthma missed more days at work than parents with children with controlled asthma (Dean et al, 2009).…”

“…With regard to work demands, literature has suggested that parents of asthmatic children are more likely to miss days at work than parents of healthy children (Dean, Calimlim, Kindermann, Khandker, Tinkelman, 2009) and to compromise their work capacity due to sleepless nights. With regard to family life demands, Crespo, Carona, Silva, Canavarro, and Dattilio (2011) argued that the experience of caregiver burden in at least one parent is easily spread to the whole family environment, as the stress and negative emotional reactions associated with this burden are likely to affect family dynamics.…”