Validity and responsiveness of a brief, asthma-specific quality-of-life instrument in children with acute asthma.
OBJECTIVE
To test the validity and short-term responsiveness to change of a pediatric, asthma-specific, health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) instrument.


METHODS
Children 2 years and older treated in the emergency department (ED) for acute asthma were eligible for this prospective cohort study. A 10-item instrument, the Integrated Therapeutics Group Child Asthma Short Form (ITG-CASF), was administered at the time of the ED visit and again 14 days later (via telephone). At the follow-up call, parents were also asked about the child's current overall asthma status, missed school or limited activities, and persistence of asthma symptoms.


RESULTS
A total of 121 children were enrolled (mean age, 7.9 years), and follow-up was complete for 96 (79%). Mean +/- SD ITG-CASF scores at follow-up were significantly higher among children reported to have improved overall (61.8 +/- 19.6) than those not improved (41.9 +/- 21.2), and there was a significant correlation between ITG-CASF score at follow-up and the number of days of school missed or limited activities (r = -0.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.24 to -0.66). There was also a significant difference in improvement in ITG-CASF score from ED visit to follow-up among those improved (13.7-point improvement) compared with those not improved (3.3-point improvement; difference = 10.4; 95% CI, 1.2 to 19.5). The effect size was 0.68, indicating a large responsiveness to change.


CONCLUSIONS
The ITG-CASF is a valid and responsive measure of HRQL in children with acute asthma and may be a useful outcome measure in evaluating ED treatment.
Gorelick
Marc H
MH
Section of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. mgorelic@mail.mcw.edu
Brousseau
David C
DC
Stevens
Molly W
MW
D000208:Acute Disease; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires