The association between the symptoms of anxiety and depression and the subjective assessment of life quality when afflicted with asthma.

Asthma is a chronic pulmonary disease that induces a sudden dyspnea, coughing, wheezing and feeling of dull pain in the chest. Asthma, especially when poorly controlled, greatly contributes to worsening of anxiety of depression. And the result of that is - poor life quality. When the emotional problems & poor life quality are confirmed, the treatment process might be initiated by overviewing the effectiveness of asthma treatment control, depending on its current control level efficiency. The goal of this study was to assess the impact of anxiety and depression symptoms on subjective assesment of quality of life in patients with asthma. Methods: in the general practice family clinic, 152 patients diagnosed with asthma have been questioned using standardized questionnaires and interviews from 2015.05.20 to 2015.11.20. A sociodemographic questionnaire has been used, for the assessment of asthma control – ACT (asthma control test), for the subjective assessment of quality of life – AQLQ (asthma quality of life questionnaire), for the assessment of depression and anxiety – HAD (hospital anxiety and depression scale). The research group of patients diagnosed with asthma was comprised mainly by 47y. old, overweight, slightly above average educated, capable of working, having asthma for around 8 years, with significantly more females, and no real difference in marital status. The individuals that had anxiety and depression symptoms, have been shown to rate their quality of life significantly lower (4,42±1,66 vs 5,26±1,45; p=0,008), especially in the aspects of feeling the symptoms of the disease and emotionally reacting to it. Anxiety and depression symptoms are significantly (p=0,008) associated with worse asthma control level, while the absence of them signified a substantially better asthma control level (61,1% vs 38,9%; 35,7% vs 64,3%). Worse asthma control level is significantly associated with worse subjective life quality rating in all the aspects (general life quality was rated by the researched individuals as follows 3,81±1,42 vs 5,81±1,10; p=0,000). Conclusion: Patients with anxiety and depression symptoms evaluated their general quality of life significantly worse, especially in the aspect of symptoms and emotional function. Since no similar researches have been undertaken in Lithuania, the results of the work and their discussion will show the situation of patients suffering from asthma in Lithuania and their relation to the other country results