Reliability and validity of childhood asthma control test in a population of Chinese asthmatic children.
BACKGROUND
No quick and easy assessment tool is presently available to measure asthma control and outcome in Chinese children.


METHODS
We translated an established seven-item questionnaire into the Chinese Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-CACT) to measure asthma symptoms and their effect on daily function in 247 children aged 4-11 years enrolled from specialty clinics around Tainan. Subjects were classed as having either intermittent or persistent asthma and were evaluated at two outpatient visits 4-8 weeks apart (baseline and follow-up).


RESULTS
C-CACT at baseline correlated significantly with physician evaluation scores (PES) except in predicted peak expiratory flow rate. There were significant differences for mean C-CACT score and mean PES between the intermittent group and persistent group. Internal consistency reliability of the survey was 0.741 at baseline and 0.759 at the follow-up visit. Test-retest reliability among 209 patients with the same specialist rating of asthma control at baseline and follow-up was r = 0.546 (P < 0.001). C-CACT scores of patients whose therapy needed to be stepped up was significantly lower than in those with unchanged or stepped-down therapy (F = 39.61, P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
C-CACT provides a reliable, valid, and responsive measure of asthma control in Chinese children.
Chen
Hsin-Hung
HH
Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Wang
Jiu-Yao
JY
Jan
Ren-Long
RL
Liu
Yi-Hsun
YH
Liu
Li-Fan
LF
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010366:Peak Expiratory Flow Rate; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome