Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients and Families with Primary Immunodeficiency in Malaysia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose: Primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) affects various aspects of a patient’s life. However, the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of PID patients in Malaysia patients is poorly described. This study aimed to determine the quality of life of Malaysian PID patients and parents. Method: This cross-sectional study was performed from August 2020 to November 2020. Patients with PID and their families were invited to answer the PedsQL Malay version (4.0) questionnaire, the tool used to assess the HRQOL. A total of 41 families and 33 patients with PID answered the questionnaire. A comparison was performed with the previously published value of healthy Malaysian children. Result: Parent of respondents recorded a lower mean of total score than the parents of normal healthy children (67.26±16.73 vs. 79.51±11.90, p-value = 0.001, respectively). PID patients reported lower mean total score to normal healthy children (73.68 ± 16.38 vs. 79.51 ± 11.90, p-value = 0.04), including psychosocial domain (71.67±16.82 vs. 77.58±12.63, p-value = 0.05), and school functioning, (63.94±20.87 vs. 80.00 ± 14.40, p-value = 0.007). No significant difference of reported HRQOL when comparing between subgroup of PID on immunoglobulin replacement therapy and those without immunoglobulin replacement (56.96±23.58 vs. 65.83±23.82, p-value 0.28). Socioeconomic status was found to be predictive of the lower total score of PedsQL in both parent and children reports. Conclusion: Parents and children with PID, especially those from middle socioeconomic status, have lower HRQOL and school function impairment than healthy children.