OBJECTIVES: In response to recommendations from the 2010 NHLBI Asthma Outcomes Workshop, we developed a new system for measuring the impact of asthma on quality of life (QoL) that avoids confounding QoL with asthma symptomatology and functional impairment.  This presentation summarizes the process of developing and validating an item bank and short-forms that measure patients’ perceptions of the impact or bother of asthma on their life. METHODS: Focus groups, supplemented by literature review and expert panel recommendations were used to identify key QoL dimensions and develop a pool of items which were refined based on cognitive interviews.  Items were field-tested using a diverse national sample of adults with asthma (N­=2032).  Modern measurement theory was used to develop an item bank and short forms.  We validated our short-forms against the Marks AQLQ; ACT; and generic QoL measures.  Discriminant validity was examined by evaluating scores from respondents who differed according to indicators of asthma severity, control, health care utilization and comorbidity. RESULTS: 661 QoL statements were identified from focus group transcripts and subsequently used to generate a pool of 112 items in 16 different content areas.  Psychometric evaluation of field test data yielded a 65-item unidimensional item bank, 4 and 12-item short forms (alpha = .86 and .93, respectively), and a simulated computer adaptive test suggesting that as few as 5-items are needed to obtain highly precise estimates of the impact of asthma on QoL (IAQL). Our measures correlated highly with Marks’ AQLQ and more strongly with the PROMIS global physical than mental scale.  IAQL was greater in persons with indicators of more severe asthma, less asthma control, and in persons with greater health care utilization. CONCLUSIONS: The RAND-IAQL item bank is a new freely available system for measuring the impact of asthma on Qol that will complement other patient-reported outcomes.