title: Assessment of control of bronchial asthma in children using Childhood Asthma Control Test.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The use of Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT) has been advised for monitoring asthma control by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To validate the tool C-ACT for the assessment of control of asthma and to examine the correlation between C-ACT score and lung function assessed by forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1).
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective observational study conducted between January 2010 to January 2011. Children diagnosed to have bronchial asthma and aged 5 to 14 years, were enrolled in the study. Asthma severity and control status were classified according to the National Asthma Education and Prevention Programme (NAEPP) and GINA guidelines, respectively. Patients were followed-up at three and six months and C-ACT and spirometric measurements were obtained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant positive correlations were found between C-ACT score and FEV1 at enrollment (r = 0.772) (p < 0.001), three months (r = 0.815) (p < 0.001) and at six months follow-up (r = 0.908) (p < 0.001). Baseline C-ACT score was useful for predicting the levels of control of asthma upto three months (0.004), but not at six months follow-up (0.787). A cut-off C-ACT value of > or = 19 had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and area under the curve (AUC) 98.5%, 89.1%, 94.9%, 96.6%, 0.717, respectively for the control of asthma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  C-ACT is a simple and feasible tool to assess and predict the levels of control in children with bronchial asthma upto three months.
authors.forename: Shiva Prasad
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Chalise
authors.forename: Nisha K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Bhatta
authors.forename: Rupa R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Maya Shankar
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: Prakash
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Poudel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors