Abstract
Objective : Asthma is a lung disorder characterized by periodic attacks of wheezing alternating with periods of relatively normal breathing. And quality of life in asthmatic patients shows a tendency to decrease. So we had a clinical study whether if oriental medical treatment could improve their quality of life or not. Methods : The 15 cases were new patients that visited at division of respiratory system, department of internal medicine in Kyunghee medical center from the 1 st of July, 2000 to the 1 st of August. All of them were diagnosed as asthma and treated by western medical therapy. We used a Quality of Life Questionnaire for adult Korean Asthmatics(QLQAKA) and evaluated the results after two times answers, at an interval of two weeks. Results : The mean of the first answer was 2.84 marks and 3.36 ones after two weeks. If there is a difference of over 0.5 points between the two, we can admit significant effect. After the asthmatic patients treated by oriental medical therapy, they gained a difference of 0.52 points, 10.4%. Conclusions : We suggest that oriental medical therapy can improve the quality of life of asthmatic patients arid we can alternate side effects of western medical therapy with oriental one. if they carry out two different treatments at the same time.
