Asthma clinic attendance improves quality of life of Jamaican asthmatic children and their parents.

Background: With the increasing incidence of paediatric asthma, there has been a corresponding increase in the physical, emotional and financial burden. This has led to a greater interest in determining the impact of asthma and its treatment on many aspects of patient functioning and wellbeing.

Objective: To assess the usefulness of the Asthma Clinic established in Jamaica in 1997 by ascertaining whether there has been improvement in quality of life of children and care-givers who attend the clinic.

Methods: The quality of life of patients and their parents/care-givers before attending the Asthma Clinic of Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston, Jamaica was compared with that of 1 year afterwards. Parents or guardians were interviewed using the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire which consists of three domains [symptoms (ten questions), emotional (eight questions) and activity (five questions)] and the Pediatric Asthma Caregiver's Quality of life Questionnaire which consist of two domains [emotional (nine questions) and activity (four questions)].

Results: Quality of life improved in patients and their parents/care-givers in all domains.

Conclusions: Attendance at an asthma clinic in Jamaica improved the quality of life of asthmatic children and their parents/care-givers.