[Sensitivity and specificity of a questionnaire about respiratory symptoms similar to asthma]

Questionnaires are an epidemiological instrument to detect patients with asthma.

Worldwide standardized questionnaires were selected, taking the most important points for making the diagnosis of asthma. A questionnaire was applied to outpatients who attend to pulmonary disease service. The answers were compared with a "gold standard" proposed, consisted in clinical screening and pulmonary function tests.

Kappa coefficient, sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were obtained, with intervals of confidence of 95%.

The questionnaires were applied to 120 patients, 70.83% women, the answering percentage was 99%. Mean age was 32 years with a range of 24-40. In 62.5% patients there was already a previous diagnosis of asthma. Positive Familial history was present in 65.83, cough in 85%, dyspnea in 80.83%, sneezes in 53.33% and wheezes in 77.5%. The was of kappa coefficient for previous medical diagnosis 0.96%, followed by positive familial history, wheezes and cough in 0.90%. The greatest specificity was for wheezes, dyspnea and previous medical diagnosis. The greatest specificity for previous medical diagnosis was wheezes and sneezes.

The use of questionnaires for respiratory symptoms similar to asthma can be an option to detect groups of high risk.