Quality of life of patients with asthma: the effects of overweight, obesity and multimorbidity

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite significant progress in the search for treatable additional features affecting multicomponent control of bronchial asthma, there is currently a paucity of research studies with a comprehensive assessment of the impact of obesity and multimorbidity on quality of life in patients with bronchial asthma. AIM: To assess the effect of personalizing features (obesity and multimorbidity) on the quality of life of patients with different levels of asthma control. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with asthma (n = 237) were divided into 3 groups depending on BMI. Multimorbid pathology was analyzed by Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS), asthma control — Asthma Control Questionnaire-5 (ACQ-5), quality of life — Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire with Standardized Activities [AQLQ(S)], anxiety and depression — Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Statistical analysis: Microsoft Excel, Statistica 12.0, Statgraphics XVIII. RESULTS: Patients with obesity and asthma had more comorbidities (p 0.05). Quality of life in patients with high and normal body weight depended on the level of control and the number of diseases (p 0.05), with getting worse disease control these differences became insignificant. In the group with obesity, activity limitation (p = 0.0150) and overall quality of life (p 0.005) increased significantly with increasing number of diseases. Anxiety levels increased with increasing number of illnesses (p 0.0001). Quality of life of patients according to AQLQ(S) has inverse correlation with BMI (r = −0.5135), age (r = −0.2034) with CIRS scores (r = −0.4905) with anxiety (r = −0.5078) and depression (r = −0.4820) level. CONCLUSIONS: Body weight, level of asthma control, depression and anxiety, and the number of comorbid multimorbid conditions affect the quality of life of patients with asthma. Obesity makes a significant negative contribution to worsening asthma control and patients’ quality of life, in this group patients have the highest level of multimorbidity and they have a prevalence of anxiety. To improve asthma control, patients need a complex examination including assessment of quality of life, depression and anxiety, and comorbidities in order to develop personalization of therapeutic approaches to patient management.