title: Health status measurement in patients with severe asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with severe asthma experience problems in different areas of their health status. Identification of these areas will provide insight in the patients needs and perhaps what determines the burden of disease. The Nijmegen Clinical Screening Instrument (NCSI) was recently developed for use in clinical practice in patients with COPD and provides a detailed picture of the patients' physiological functioning, symptoms, functional impairment, and Quality of Life. Main purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of the NCSI as compared to the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) and Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) in patients with severe asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  The NCSI, AQLQ, and ACQ were measured in 167 patients with severe asthma. Pearson correlations were calculated between NCSI sub-domains and the AQLQ domains and the ACQ.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The NCSI measures more aspects of health status as compared to the ACQ and AQLQ in patients with severe asthma. Beside symptoms, subjective impairment, and emotions the NCSI also measures general Quality of Life, health related Quality of Life, satisfaction with relations, fatigue, and behavioural impairment. On all NCSI sub-domains proportions of patients with normal, mild, and severe problems were found. Heterogeneity was found on the number and on the combination of sub-domains on which patients reported severe problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The NCSI provides a more detailed picture of the individual patient with severe asthma than the ACQ and AQLQ. The use of the NCSI might allow quick identification of the problem areas and possible factors that impair health status.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Postbus 66, 6560 AB Groesbeek, The Netherlands; Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Postbus 66, 6560 AB Groesbeek, The Netherlands. Electronic address: Jeannette.Jacobs-Peters@radboudumc.nl.
authors.forename: Jeannette B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Dutch Asthma Centre Davos, Herman Burchartstrasse 1, 7260 Davos, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lucia H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Rijssenbeek-Nouwens
authors.affiliation: Dutch Asthma Centre Davos, Herman Burchartstrasse 1, 7260 Davos, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Aad O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Bron
authors.affiliation: Dutch Asthma Centre Davos, Herman Burchartstrasse 1, 7260 Davos, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Karin B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Fieten
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Els J M
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Weersink
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Elisabeth H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Bel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Postbus 66, 6560 AB Groesbeek, The Netherlands; Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Postbus 66, 6560 AB Groesbeek, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Vercoulen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume / Q000502:physiology; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ACQ; AQLQ; Assessment; Health status; Quality of Life; Uncontrolled asthma