Quality of Life in Children with Asthma in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Objectives To evaluate the impact of asthma on activity limitation, symptoms and emotional function in the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of asthmatic children. Methods A cross-sectional study involving 59 children of 7 to 12 y of age. A standardized version of the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire was used to evaluate HRQL and the current criteria for socioeconomic stratification in Brazil were used to assess socioeconomic status. Independent variables evaluated included clinical and sociodemographic characteristics. The association between mean HRQL scores and the independent variables was evaluated using the Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn tests. Statistical significance was defined as a p -value