Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients With Asthma During the Pandemic of COVID-19 (COVID-19)

Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients With Asthma and Its Associated Factors During the Pandemic of COVID-19

Nowadays, the COVID-19 epidemic causes stress not only to healthy people but also to people with unhealthy conditions. Excess psychological stress (either in quality, quantity, frequency, and/or duration) could push susceptible individuals to ultimately develop clinical asthma. Depression was significantly associated with asthma interference with daily activities, breathlessness, night symptoms, use of bronchodilators, and poor compliance with medical treatment.

Covid-19 pandemic induced the countries around the world to require from its citizens not to ask for health care support rather than in emergency situations and through utilizing telemedicine. This action aims to control spreading the infection with viruses as well as to reduce the workload on the healthcare providers.

Although asthma is not listed as one of the chronic conditions that might complicate coronavirus infections, asthma people might have a high-stress level that might induce their asthma attack which consequentially reflects on their quality of life. People with asthma have a unique experience rather than people with other health conditions during COVID-19.

Patients with asthma experience a lot of stressors that might induce asthma and impaired their HRQOL such as overuse of antiseptic substances, stay home with a sedentary lifestyle, the sudden shift to telemedicine, and electronic work from home. Also, as a result of the similarity of asthma symptoms with coronavirus symptoms, the patient might have a continuous sense of uncertainty that s/he is infected with the COVID-19 virus, and this suspicion can increase the psychological overburden on these patients.

Therefore, all these stressors should be evaluated to recognize their health needs and the kind of social and health support that should be provided to them during the pandemic time. Also, Identifying the predictors of HRQOL among patients with asthma during the pandemic of COVID-19 is urgently required.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Bronchial Asthma; Asthma Chronic

Detailed Description

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lower respiratory tract which derives from a combination of genetic predisposition with environmental exposure to several factors. It is a chronic respiratory disease that results in morbidity, mortality, and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). It is estimated that 334 million people have asthma worldwide.

Nowadays, the COVID-19 epidemic causes stress not only to healthy people but also to people with unhealthy conditions. Excess psychological stress (either in quality, quantity, frequency, and/or duration) could push susceptible individuals to ultimately develop clinical asthma. Depression was significantly associated with asthma interference with daily activities, breathlessness, night symptoms, use of bronchodilators, and poor compliance with medical treatment.

Covid-19 pandemic induced the countries around the world to require from its citizens not to ask for health care support rather than in emergency situations and through utilizing telemedicine. This action aims to control spreading the infection with viruses as well as to reduce the workload on the healthcare providers.

Although asthma is not listed as one of the chronic conditions that might complicate coronavirus infections, asthma people might have a high-stress level that might induce their asthma attack which consequentially reflects on their quality of life. People with asthma have a unique experience rather than people with other health conditions during COVID-19.

Patients with asthma experience a lot of stressors that might induce asthma and impaired their HRQOL such as overuse of antiseptic substances, stay home with a sedentary lifestyle, the sudden shift to telemedicine, and electronic work from home. Also, as a result of the similarity of asthma symptoms with coronavirus symptoms, the patient might have a continuous sense of uncertainty that s/he is infected with the COVID-19 virus, and this suspicion can increase the psychological overburden on these patients.

Therefore, all these stressors should be evaluated to recognize their health needs and the kind of social and health support that should be provided to them during the pandemic time. Also, Identifying the predictors of HRQOL among patients with asthma during the pandemic of COVID-19 is urgently required.

A cross-sectional analytical design will be utilized.

The study participants will be adults (18 years or older) who have been diagnosed with bronchial asthma or pulmonary disease.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 200

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Egypt
  • Cairo, Egypt
    • Cairo University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The study participants will be adults who have been diagnosed with bronchial asthma or pulmonary disease.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participant's age: 18 years or older
• medically diagnosed with bronchial asthma

Exclusion Criteria:

• not medically diagnosed with asthma by a physician

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Patient with asthma

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ)	ACQ has a multidimensional construct assessing symptoms (5 items--self-administered) and rescue in bronchodilator use (1 item-self-administered), and FEV1% (1 item) completed by clinic staff, but it will not be applied in the current study as it will be difficult to be self-reported by the participants. 7-point scale (0=no impairment, 6= maximum impairment for symptoms. Scores range between 0 (totally controlled) and 6 (severely uncontrolled).	One week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire	The MiniAQLQ will be utilized to investigate the HRQoL of the participants. The Mini AQLQ-S has 15 questions that gives an overall summary index and four domains: activity limitation, symptoms, emotional function, and environmental stimuli. The questions all refer to the "last two weeks" and use seven Likert-type response options e.g., seven response options ranging from "all of the time" to "none of the time".	two weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Cairo University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Naglaa FA Youssef, PhD, Cairo University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 21, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 17, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): December 17, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 29, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 31, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): November 3, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 10, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 6, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Asthma; Quality of life; COVID-19; patient reported outcome; Health related quality of life
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Immune System Diseases; Respiratory Tract Infections; Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Lung Diseases; Bronchial Diseases; Lung Diseases, Obstructive; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Hypersensitivity, Immediate; Hypersensitivity; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; COVID-19; Asthma
• Other Study ID Numbers: Serial 39-2020

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No