Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ)

The original PAQLQ asks children to name up to three activities that are most important to them and then asks whether asthma interferes with those activities. The PAQLQ-S uses five standardized activities (playing games, sports, running, climbing stairs, and doing exercise) instead. The PAQLQ-S reduces variability between children and improves comparability across studies; most recent research uses PAQLQ-S.

Yes, a parent proxy version exists for children who cannot self-report (e.g., age <7 years, cognitive impairment). However, parent perceptions often differ from child self-report. Studies show moderate agreement (correlation ~0.6) between child and parent scores, suggesting that both perspectives should be collected when feasible.

The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is 0.5 points per domain (on the 1–7 scale). This means that if a child's Symptoms domain score improves by ≥0.5 points (e.g., from 4.5 to 5.0 or higher), this change is considered clinically meaningful. Changes below 0.5 may reflect measurement error rather than true improvement.

The PAQLQ is validated for ages 7–17 with persistent asthma. It is not appropriate for children <7 years (though a parent proxy version exists), for intermittent asthma (though some researchers use it in all asthmatics), or for non-respiratory conditions. The child must have adequate reading comprehension (typically grade 3 or above).