A pictorial visual analog scale for rating severity of childhood asthma episodes.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of pictorial anchors improved a visual analog scale (VAS) designed to assess asthma episodes. The sample consisted of 77 children with moderate to severe asthma attending a summer camp. They rated one of two VASs, either nonpictorial (39 subjects in year 1) or pictorial (38 subjects in year 2), three times a day for 2 weeks to report the severity of their asthma symptoms. Immediately after the subjects rated the VAS, pulmonary function testing was obtained. The mean VAS scores increased 64% using the pictorial VAS while the mean PEFRs in the 2 years were almost identical, suggesting that changes on the VAS were not due to differences in pulmonary functioning. For boys, the increase in individual mean VAS score in year 2 using the pictorial VAS was 44%; for girls, the increase in individual mean VAS scores was 112%. Use of a pictorial VAS increases the range of severity of symptoms reported by children with asthma. The instrument may be a useful tool in the systematic quantifiable assessment of subjective symptomatology in pediatric asthma.
Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University School of Medicine, Providence.
G
G
Fritz
A
A
Spirito
A
A
Yeung
R
R
Klein
E
E
Freedman
D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors