OBJECTIVE: To analyze scientific articles that discuss the quality of life related to the health of children and adolescents with asthma, focusing the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) evaluation tool. DATA SOURCES: Non-systematic review of the literature including articles in English, Portuguese and Spanish identified via Medline, SciELO and Lilacs, published between 1997 and 2009.The following descriptors were searched: "quality of life", "asthma pediatrics", "asthma quality of life" and "PAQLQ". DATA SYNTHESIS: The 26 articles were organized in two sections: studies on validity of PAQLQ (n=12) and the assessment of quality of life in asthmatic children using the PAQLQ (n=14). CONCLUSIONS: The assessment of quality of life should be incorporated in clinical evaluations considering that chronic illnesses may affect diverse dimensions of life. The PAQLQ is reliable and easy to use, being an appropriate tool to evaluate quality of life in children and adolescents with asthma.
asthma; quality of life; child