title: [Asthma control test (ACT) faultiness and the remediation by peak flow (PEF) measurement at outpatient department].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To grasp the asthma patients' control level, an asthma control test (ACT), an easy questionnaire, is getting to be used as the alternative method of asthma diary recording. ACT is based on the patient's 4-week memory and the accuracy is not confirmed thoroughly
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and eighty three visits of 88 asthmatics (male 29, female 59) were subjected. The accuracy of ACT to detect "truly good control" was analyzed by comparing with the asthma diary (symptoms and PEF were recorded).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sensitivities, specificities (chi square values) for extraction of truly good control were 0.88, 0.42 (23.7) by the threshold of ACT > or =23, 0.77, 0.51 (18.1) by ACT > or =24, and 0.54, 0.69 (12.9) by ACT=25, significantly (p<0.001, respectively). When PEF% predicted > or =80% was added as the second factor, the chi square values improved to 29.9 by ACT > or =23 and to 30.3 by ACT > or =24 significantly (p<0.001, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Addition of PEF measurement on visit on ACT may help understanding the asthmatic patient condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Kawasaki medical School.
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Obase
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohfuji
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Tadaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiu
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohue
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mouri
authors.forename: Naoyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyashita
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobashi
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D010366:Peak Expiratory Flow Rate; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires