Background: As symptoms and airflow limitation vary over time, the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) may be hampered in patients with asthma. However, self-perceived performance of ADLs has mostly been measured using patient-reported questionnaires focusing on general, prespecified ADLs, providing limited information on the activities that are most important to the individual patient.

Aims: To identify the most problematic self-reported ADLs, to determine performance and satisfaction scores for these ADLs and to assess the association between clinical determinants and problematic ADLs in patients with asthma.

Methods: A total of 538 asthma patients (58.3 ± 12.7 years; 43.1% male; FEV1 74.4 ± 24.1% predicted) entering pulmonary rehabilitation assessment were included in this retrospective study. Self-reported problematic ADLs were assessed using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, administered by occupational therapists in the form of a semi-structured interview.

Results: 1935 problematic ADLs were reported and 95% of the patients reported that they experienced ?2 problematic ADLs. The most prevalent problematic ADLs were walking (67%), household activities (41%), and climbing the stairs (41%). Significant but weak associations were found between clinical determinants (e.g. physical and psychosocial) and problematic ADLs.

Conclusions: The wide variety of problematic ADLs and the absence of a strong association with clinical determinants such as pulmonary function and exercise capacity emphasizes the need for using individualized interview-based performance measures to allow tailored interventions to support patients with asthma in their participation in relevant everyday life activities.