ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Asthma is a chronic disease that can place considerable restrictions on the physical, emotional, and social aspects of patients’ lives and may have an impact of their careers. The importance of emotional factors and restriction of social life may be greater when symptoms are not adequately controlled, but the underlying disease itself may cause distress, especially when its evolution is unpredictable, as with asthma [1]. Medical care and health practitioners can increase these difficulties. Many asthmatics do not completely appreciate the impact of the disease on their social life and claim they lead ‘‘normal’’ lives, when their concept of normality may be based on adjustments and restrictions they have already incorporated into their lifestyles or alternatively because they mask their restriction, wanting to ‘‘live like others.’’ Most patients suffering from asthma cannot be cured, and their management should be directed to a reduction in symptoms and an improvement in lifestyle measured in terms of health-related quality of life (HRQL).
