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A childhood asthma severity scale: symptoms, medications, and health care visits

A N Ortega1, K D Belanger, M B Bracken

  • 1Division of Health Policy and Administration, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8034, USA. alexander.ortega@yale.edu

Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology : Official Publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology
|May 10, 2001
PubMed

Insights

A new Childhood Asthma Severity (CHAS) scale shows promise for large epidemiologic studies. This validated tool helps assess asthma severity across diverse populations, aiding research and public health efforts.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Epidemiology
  • Clinical Assessment

Background:

  • Existing childhood asthma severity measures lack validity for large-scale epidemiologic studies.
  • A standardized, valid tool is needed to assess asthma severity in diverse pediatric populations.
  • Current clinical tools are insufficient for population-based research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and validate the Childhood Asthma Severity (CHAS) scale.
  • To assess the clinimetric properties of the CHAS scale.
  • To identify differences in asthma indicators by participant characteristics.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective cohort study included 897 children under 12 with active asthma.
  • Data were collected monthly via home interviews over 12 months.
  • The CHAS scale was constructed using dimensions of symptoms, medication use, and healthcare visits.

Main Results:

  • The CHAS scale demonstrated sufficient preliminary content, construct, and predictive validity.
  • Significant healthcare utilization and medication use disparities were observed based on race, ethnicity, insurance, income, and maternal education.
  • Asthma symptom prevalence showed similarities across demographic groups.

Conclusions:

  • The CHAS scale is a potentially valuable tool for measuring asthma severity in large epidemiologic studies.
  • The CHAS scale exhibits adequate clinimetric properties for research applications.
  • Further validation may confirm its utility in diverse populations.
Abstract

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