title: Validation of a Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parental questionnaires to assess incidence of pediatric allergic disease have been validated for use in school-aged children. Currently, there is no validated questionnaire-based assessment of food allergy, atopic dermatitis (AD), and asthma for infants and young children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire was designed for detecting AD, asthma, and IgE-mediated food allergies in children aged 1-5 years. A nested case-control design was applied. Parents of 150 children attending pediatric outpatient clinics completed the questionnaire before being clinically assessed by a pediatrician for allergies. Sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of the questionnaire were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-seven children were diagnosed with one or more current allergic diseases. The questionnaire demonstrated high overall sensitivity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.86-0.98) with a specificity of 0.79 (95% CI 0.68-0.88). Questionnaire reproducibility was good with a kappa agreement rate for symptom-related questions of 0.45-0.90.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire accurately and reliably reflects the presence of allergies in children aged 1-5 years. Its use is warranted as a tool for determining prevalence of allergies in this pediatric age group.
authors.affiliation: Sydney Medical School Nepean, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Minasyan
authors.affiliation: Sydney Medical School Nepean, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Department of Paediatrics, Blue Mountains ANZAC Memorial Hospital, Katoomba, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Arman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Babajanyan
authors.affiliation: Sydney Medical School Nepean, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Department of Allergy and Immunology, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Dianne E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Sydney Medical School Nepean, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nanan
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: asthma; atopic dermatitis; childhood allergy; food allergy; parental questionnaire validation