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Validation of the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen
R L Wolf1, C A Berry, T O'Connor
1La Rabida Children's Hospital and Research Center, Chicago, IL 60649, USA. rlwolf@midway.uchicago.edu
Chest
|October 26, 1999
Summary
The Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen (BPAS) is a valid tool for identifying childhood asthma in schools. This parent-completed questionnaire shows good accuracy in detecting asthma symptoms among students.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pulmonology
- Epidemiology
- Public Health
Background:
- Asthma is the most prevalent chronic childhood disease, but its recognition varies.
- Current asthma detection methods are often impractical for large-scale school screening.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen (BPAS) for identifying asthma in school-aged children.
- To assess the accuracy of a brief, parent-completed questionnaire for pediatric asthma detection.
Main Methods:
- Validated a five-question instrument (BPAS) in a Chicago school district.
- Distributed questionnaires to parents and conducted clinical assessments on a subset of children.
- Utilized parent-reported data and blinded clinical evaluations including spirometry.
Main Results:
- Achieved a 43% return rate for the 4,147 distributed questionnaires.
- Identified 10% of respondents with symptoms suggestive of asthma.
- The BPAS demonstrated 75% sensitivity and 81.2% specificity for asthma detection in unaware children.
Conclusions:
- The Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen (BPAS) is a concise and parent-friendly tool.
- The BPAS demonstrates significant accuracy in identifying pediatric asthma.
- This screen offers a practical approach for large-scale asthma detection in schools.