Quality of Life for Children with Cystic Fibrosis in Gaza Strip
Authors:   Maser Degree of Public Health, University of Palestine, Palestine, Hamdouna Yaser 
Published: January 2021

Background: CF is a chronic, multisystem genetic disease with a wide variability in clinical severity. CF is a disease of exocrine gland function that involves multiple organ systems but chiefly results in chronic respiratory infections, pancreatic enzyme insufficiency, and associated complications in untreated patients. Many studies explained the lower QOL among adults with CF. in GS there is no previous studies concerned with measuring QOL among CF children Aim of the Study: The aim of this study was to assess the QOL among children with CF. Methodology: The study was descriptive, analytical and cross sectional studies. The study involves all 36 children with CF (less than 12 years old) who attained CF friends center; community based center in Gaza. The researchers uses the questionnaire which included demographic & illness related variables and Quality of life domains (physical, emotional, social and school). Reliability coefficient for the questionnaire was good (Cronbach alpha =0.833). Results and Conclusion: About 61% of the study population were males and 39% were females. Approximately 47% of them were less than 9 years and 53% were more than 9 years. About 41.7% of the study population from Gaza, 25.0% from middle zone, 13.9% from Rafah, 11.1% from Khanyounis and 8.3% from North of Gaza. Housing classification was 38.9%, 33.3% and 27.8 % for property house, renting house and family house respectively. Most of their parents had low educational levels and the majority of them were unemployed and have a monthly income less than 1200 NIS. About 61% of them have another sibling with CF. the majority of them receive Creon at a regular basis. The most common disease associated with them was Respiratory problem with 43.2%, 38.3% had gastrointestinal disease, 14.8% had heart disease and 3.7% had Diabetes Mellitus. The overall perception of the children regarding QOL was low (55%). The social functions was the highest (61.6%), physical functions (55.2%), school function (50.6%), and emotional function (48.8%). The result presented below show that no significant difference in QOL between socio-demographic data (p-value > 0.05) except the difference for QOL between age groups) p-value =0.001). Children older than 9 years old (2.95±0.3) have QOL more than children under nine years of age (2.53±0.4) and this difference was statistically significant as (P value = 0.02 < 0.05). It is also clear that QOL in males are more than female but this difference was not statistically significant. There is a positive correlation with a highly significant difference between QOL and the 4 domains and between domains with each other. Social performance was high correlated with school performance (r = 0.706) while the lowest correlation was between physical and school performance with no significant (p-value =0.065). Recommendations: The study recommend the importance of initiating a program to enhance the QOL for children with CF and focusing on the emotional health for those children as it was the least one perceived.