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Aim: To assess fatigue in children aged 2-17 years with asthma from both child and parent perspectives and describe associated factors., Methods: Fatigue scores were self-reported by children aged 5-17 years old and proxy-reported by parents or carers for all children. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Multidimensional Fatigue Scale was used. Fatigue scores ranged from 0 to 100, higher scores meant less fatigue., Results: There were 527 children and parents enrolled. The mean overall fatigue score by self-report was 72.7 ± 15.8 and by proxy report was 75.8 ± 16.3. Self-reported fatigue score was lower in children aged 5-7 years (71.5 ± 15.9) compared to proxy-reported score (76.3 ± 15.5). Proxy and self-reported fatigue scores were similar between parents and older children. Fatigue scores were lower in association with poor asthma control and receipt of social support. Lower self-reported, but not proxy-reported, fatigue score was related to asthma severity. Lower proxy-reported, but not self-reported, fatigue score was related to the child being older and having shortness of breath., Conclusion: Parents underestimated the fatigue of younger children aged 5-7 years, but fatigue scores were similar between parents and older children. Both clinical and social factors are associated with fatigue in children with asthma., (© 2023 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The quality of life for the family is an important outcome of childhood asthma. The aim of the study was to describe the quality of life in families who have a child with asthma. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Family Impact Module was completed by the parents of 527 children with asthma. The median overall score was 75.0 (interquartile range 63.9, 87.5). The following factors were independently associated with lower quality of life: additional difficulties such as anxiety and financial hardship (3.81 [2.45, 5.93]), waking with asthma symptoms one or more nights a week (odds ratio 2.53 [1.34, 4.75]), regular use of symptoms reliever medication (2.47 [1.57, 3.87]), and female gender (1.97 [1.27, 3.05]). Lower socioeconomic status of the family and exposure to molds at home doubled the odds for lower quality of life. Physician's diagnosed asthma severity and control were associated with quality of life in univariate, but not multivariate analysis.Conclusion: Multiple factors, several of which are not related to asthma, contribute to the family burden of having a child with asthma. Clinicians should be mindful of the impact of asthma on the child and the family, and consider exploring factors not directly related to childhood asthma. What is Known: • Childhood asthma as a chronic disease impacts the quality of life of the patient, but there is also an impact on the immediate family. • There are relatively few studies exploring the quality of life of parents of a child with asthma; the results are heterogeneous and none has been carried out in an Eastern European country. What is New: • This is the first study to describe caregiver's quality of life in an Eastern European population in the context of childhood asthma. • The quality of life of the family of asthmatic child depends not only on factors related to asthma, but also non-asthma related factors such as poverty which play even more important role.

Introduction: Ageing is associated with several physical, psychological, and behavioral changes. These changes are closely related with general health problems and quality of life in old age. The CASP-19 multidimensional instrument was specially designed to measure quality of life in the elderly. The different language versions of this scale have been used in more than 20 countries. However, Lithuanian translation was not available. The objective of our study was to test psychometric properties of the Lithuanian version of the CASP-19 questionnaire. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with ambulatory men and women aged 60 and older, living in a community in Vilnius, Lithuania. Exclusion criteria were current acute illness, malignant tumor, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score < 25 points. Psychometric properties of CASP-19 were tested using reliability and validity methods. Results: The study sample consisted of 132 participants, 28 (21.8%) of them were men and 103 (78.2%) women. Analysis of psychometric properties of the Lithuanian version of CASP-19 showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.85), good agreement between test-retest measures with an ICC of 0.82 (95% CI 0.79⁻0.85) and good convergent and divergent construct validity. Conclusions: The psychometric properties indicated that the Lithuanian version of CASP-19 was reliable and valid. As such, it might be used to evaluate quality of life in elderly people.

Aim: Quality of life (QoL) has been widely researched among children with asthma in Western countries, but there is a lack of data from eastern Europe, where the prevalence is relatively low, but hospital admission rates are higher. We evaluated the overall level and major determinants of QoL in Lithuanian children aged 5-11 years with asthma., Methods: This study was carried out in six asthma outpatient clinics in the two largest cities of Lithuania from January 2015 to July 2016. The children's QoL was measured using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) asthma module, which was completed by the child and one parent., Results: We collected questionnaires from 226 children (68% boys) with a mean age of eight (±2) years: 65% had mild asthma, 31% had moderate asthma and 4% had severe asthma. One in 10 had been hospitalised in the preceding 6 months. The mean self-reported QoL score was 74 and the parent-reported QoL score was 73. QoL was associated with asthma severity and control, shortness of breath and the child's general health, but not socioeconomic factors., Conclusion: The overall level and major determinants of QoL in children with asthma in Lithuania were comparable with Western populations., (©2017 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Diabetic patients are more than twice as costly to manage as non-diabetic patients, due mainly to the high costs associated with management of diabetic complications. As in most nations of the world, the number of patients with DM is increasing every year in Lithuania. The aim of this study was to determine relation between quality of the life and disease and social factors of patients with type 2 diabetes in Lithuania., Material and Methods: Independently prepared questions about the subjects of the survey were: gender; age; weight; education; social and marital status; duration of the disease (in years); treatment method; complications; morbidity with arterial hypertension; change in dietary habits after diagnosis of diabetes (started to eat accordingly to recommendations of the therapist); how often nourishment is taken accordingly to recommendations of the therapist; if beginning to exercise after diagnosis of the diabetes; and if exercising, exercises at least 2-3 times per week. Body mass index was calculated as the relation between body mass in kg and height m square (BMI=kg/m2). The hospital anxiety and depression (HAD) scale was used for the evaluation of depression and anxiety. Quality of life of patients was evaluated with the SF-36 questionnaire. We surveyed 1022 patients with type 2 diabetes (372 men and 650 women). Association between quality of the life and explanatory parameters (disease and social factors) were analyzed using the logistic regression analysis model., Results: We found that women had lower scores than men in all fields of quality of life (p<0.001). Peroral treatment had a positive impact on the quality of life (QL) fields of the role limitations due to emotional problems (ORa 0.16. 95% CI 0.07-0.34; p<0.001). Treatment with insulin had a positive effect on restriction of activity because of emotional problems (ORa - 0.23. 95% CI 0.11-0.49; p<0.001) and mental health (ORa - 0.38. 95% CI 0.19-0.78; p=0.008), but had a negative impact on bodily pain (ORa - 3.95. 95% CI 1.41-11.09; p=0.009) and physical health (ORa - 4.14. 95% CI 2.03-8.47; p<0.001)., Conclusions: Age and BMI are less important factors that can influence quality of life. Peroral treatment positively acted on the role limitations due to emotional problems, bodily pain, and mental health, but had a strong negative effect on emotional state.