title: Descriptors of breathlessness in children with persistent asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In adult patients, the consistent use of language to describe dyspnea enhances patient-provider communication and contributes to diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. The objective of this research was to determine whether pediatric patients similarly display consistency in the language used to describe "uncomfortable awareness of breathing."
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred children between the ages of 8 and 15 years with moderate to severe persistent asthma enrolled in an asthma education research program completed questionnaires regarding descriptors of asthma on each of two occasions. In addition to the breathlessness questionnaires, demographic information, self-reported asthma severity, ED visits, missed school days, anthropometrics, and spirometry were obtained for each participant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children were reliable in their choice of the descriptors that they applied to their breathing discomfort across two occasions, and they selected the same descriptors that were used by adults with asthma in previous studies. Children with greater self-reported asthma severity endorsed more descriptors to characterize breathing discomfort than did children with less severe asthma, but no differences were found among children based on demographic or anthropometric variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children with moderate to severe persistent asthma are reliable in their choice of descriptors of breathlessness. Knowledge of their experience of symptoms may be helpful clinically in the assessment and management of asthma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC. Electronic address: arharver@uncc.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harver
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School and Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Schwartzstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH.
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kotses
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC; Asthma and Allergy Specialists, P.A., Charlotte, NC.
authors.forename: C Thomas
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Humphries
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC.
authors.forename: Karen B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Schmaling
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC.
authors.forename: Melanie Lee
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Mullin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012119:Respiration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013147:Spirometry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires