Allergic rhinitis quality of life in urban children with asthma

Background: Urban children with asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) are at risk for experiencing worse AR-related quality of life (QOL). Although AR may be underdiagnosed and undertreated in urban minority children, research has not considered which illness-related indicators (eg, AR control) may contribute to AR QOL in this population. Objective: To examine associations among AR control, asthma control, allergy symptoms, asthma symptoms, and AR QOL in a sample of 195 urban caregivers and their children with asthma (7-9 years of age) from African American, Latino, and non-Latino white backgrounds. Racial and ethnic differences in AR QOL were also examined. Methods: Families resided in 1 of 4 cities selected as recruitment sources because of their high concentrations of ethnic minority and non-Latino white, urban families. Caregivers and children completed a series of interview-based and clinician-based assessments across one academic year and 4-week periods to track daily asthma and nasal symptoms. Results: Better AR control was associated with higher AR QOL (beta = -32, P <.01) and all QOL subscales. AR control predicted AR QOL over and above asthma control (beta = -.28, P <.01). Controlling for AR control, non-Latino white children reported better QOL related to practical problems than both Latino and African American children (P <.05). Conclusion: Findings suggest that strategies to enhance AR control in urban children with asthma may assist in improving AR QOL. Non-Latino white children may experience less impairment of their AR QOL because of practical problems (eg, blow nose) than African American or Latino children with asthma. (C) 2014 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.