Longitudinal study of quality of life among children with acute respiratory infection and cough

Purpose Acute respiratory infections (ARIs), and associated symptoms such as cough, are frequently experienced among children and impose a burden on families (e.g., use of medical resources and time off work/school). However, there are little data on changes in, and predictors of, quality of life (QoL) over the duration of an ARI with cough (ARIwC) episode. We therefore aimed to determine cough-specific QoL and identify its influencing factors among children with ARIwC, at the time of presentation to a pediatric emergency department (ED), and over the following 4 weeks. Methods Data from 283 children aged Results Median PAC-QoL at baseline was 2.7 (IQR 2.1–3.6) and significantly improved by Day-7 (4.9, IQR 3.8–6.1) and Day-14 (6.59, IQR 5.1–7.0), both p Conclusions Quality of life is considerably impaired at presentation to ED, but improves significantly by Days-7 and -14. As cough severity and financial concerns had the highest impact on QoL, effectively managing cough to reduce the clinical and financial burden on children and families is important