A Systematic Review of Psychological, Physical Health Factors and Quality of Life in Adult Asthma

Asthma is a common non-communicable disease, often characterised by activity limitation, negative effects on social life and relationships, problems with finding and keeping employment, and poor quality of life. The objective of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature investigating the potential factors impacting quality of life (QoL) in asthma. Electronic searches were carried out on: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO,the Cochrane Library and Web of Science (initial search April 2017 and updated in January 2019). All primary research studies including asthma, psychological or physical health factors and quality of life were included. Narrative synthesis was used to develop themes among findings in included studies in an attempt to identify variables impacting QoL in asthma.

The search retrieved 43 eligible studies, that were grouped in three themes: psychological factors (including anxiety and depression, other mental health conditions, illness representations and emotion regulation), physical health factors (including BMI and chronic physical conditions) and multifactorial aspects, including the interplay of health and psychological factors and asthma. These were found to have a substantial impact on QoL in asthma, both directly and indirectly, by affecting self-management, activity levels and other outcomes. Findings suggest a complex and negative effect of health and psychological factors on QoL in asthma. The experience of living with asthma is multifaceted, and future research and intervention development studies should take this into account, as well as the variety of variables interacting and affecting the person.