TY - JOUR T1 - Validation of a new quality of life instrument for wheezy preschool children JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.PA1287 VL - 46 IS - suppl 59 SP - PA1287 AU - Catherine Olden AU - Liz Symes AU - Paul Seddon Y1 - 2015/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA1287.abstract N2 - Measures of quality of life (QOL) are increasingly important in the assessment of asthma and wheezing disorders. No validated QOL instrument currently exists for preschool wheezing: clinical trials often use QOL instruments validated in school age asthma (eg Paediatric Asthma Caregiver Quality of Life Questionnaire - PAQLQ). Because of the different natures of preschool wheeze and preschool lifestyle, school age QOL instruments are unlikely to be appropriate.We previously developed a new caregiver-completed QOL instrument, the Wheezy Preschool Quality of Life Questionnaire (WPQLQ) using comparable methodology to existing school-age instruments. This study aimed to validate the WPQLQ in preschool children with recurrent wheeze by reference to a gold standard of disease control (a validated daily symptom diary) and the PACQLQ. 30 children of median (range) age 32 (13-54) months with recurrent wheeze requiring a step up in treatment were assessed at 3 visits: V1 (baseline), V2 (before treatment change) and V3 (6-8 weeks after treatment change).Between assessment period (V1 to V2) and treatment period (V2 to V3) there was a significant decrease in daily symptom score from 0.93 to 0.57. From V1 to V2 there was a non-significant trend for both QOL scores to increase - PACQLQ 4.07 vs 4.43, WPQLQ 3.39 vs 3.90 - despite no change in treatment, possibly due to increased focus on symptoms from daily diary completion. Between V2 and V3 there was a further non-significant increase in PACQLQ from 4.43 to 5.32, whereas WPQLQ increased significantly from 3.90 to 4.77.Our preliminary results indicate that the WPQLQ has the potential to be a useful outcome measure in wheezy preschool children. ER -