title: Validation of an asthma symptom diary for interventional studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Pediatric Asthma Diary was developed and validated to assess efficacy of interventions in children with asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Diary validation was performed in a three week, prospective study of 106 children aged 6-14 years with asthma. Children were classified at baseline as either stable (requiring no additional asthma treatment) or new onset/worse (requiring either addition of or increase in anti-inflammatory treatment).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A daytime symptom scale and "day without asthma" were defined from diary questions. Both measures demonstrated significant validity and responsiveness to anti-inflammatory treatment. The stable group experienced a higher percentage of days without asthma during week 1 compared with the new onset/worse group (39.6% v 11.6%, respectively). The new onset/worse patients experienced significant improvement in days without asthma (24.5%) compared with stable patients (6.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Pediatric Asthma Diary daytime symptom scale and day without asthma are acceptable measures for use in asthma intervention studies of children aged 6-14 years.
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Merck Research Laboratories, PO Box 4, BL-3, West Point, PA 19486, USA.
authors: N C
authors: NC
authors: Santanello
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Davies
authors: S P
authors: SP
authors: Galant
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Pedinoff
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Sveum
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Seltzer
authors: B C
authors: BC
authors: Seidenberg
authors: B A
authors: BA
authors: Knorr
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States