At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a seven-item asthma control questionnaire, which identifies young children with poorly controlled asthma, has been introduced.
It is called the Childhood Asthma Control Test, or Childhood ACT, and designed for use by a paediatrician and asks young children, with a caregiver's guidance, to respond to four questions, while the caregiver is asked to respond to three questions. It complements a similar test already available for children 12 years or older that is supported by the American Lung Association.
Researchers from the Sutter Medical Center, California, developed the test based on a trial of a 21-item questionnaire administered to 344 patients with asthma and their caregivers in nine specialist clinics. The results of the questionnaire were compared to specialists' ratings of asthma control based on patient history and spirometry - a quick and simple lung function test.
The researchers reduced the 21 items to the seven items best able to discriminate a child's asthma control status. In responding to the questionnaire, for each of the four items, the child selects answers that range from a sad face to a smiley face, to indicate the level of impact their asthma is having in their life.
The children are asked:
- How is your asthma today?
- How much of a problem is your asthma when you run, exercise or play sports?
- Do you cough because of your asthma?
- Do you wake up during the night because of your asthma?
- How many days per month did your child have any daytime asthma symptoms?
- How many days per month did your child wheeze during the day because of asthma?
- How many days per month did your child wake up during the night because of asthma?
AAP,
October 2005
October 2005