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Symptoms of asthma: comparison of a parent-completed retrospective questionnaire with a prospective daily symptom

M J Hensley1, A Chalmers, K Clover

  • 1School of Medical Practice and Population Health, University of Newcastle, Division of Medicine, John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Michael.Hensley@newcastle.edu.au

Pediatric Pulmonology
|November 18, 2003
PubMed

Insights

Parental reports accurately predict children's respiratory symptoms like wheezing and coughs. This study highlights the reliability of parental symptom recall for assessing childhood respiratory health.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Health
  • Pediatric Respiratory Medicine
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Indoor air pollution is a growing concern for children's respiratory health.
  • Accurate assessment of respiratory symptoms in children is crucial for diagnosis and management.
  • Parental reporting is a common method for gathering symptom data, but its consistency needs validation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the consistency between parental reports of respiratory symptoms and prospectively recorded daily symptom data in children.
  • To assess the predictive value of parental symptom recall for future respiratory symptom occurrence.
  • To investigate the relationship between different symptom groups and subsequent respiratory events.

Main Methods:

  • A questionnaire was administered to parents of 390 children (aged 8-11 years) in Newcastle, Australia, categorizing them into four symptom groups: Wheeze, Chest-Colds, Cough Alone, or Control.
  • A subset of children (n=139) underwent lung function tests, atopy testing, and maintained a 7-week daily diary of peak expiratory flow (PEF) and symptoms.
  • Data from 66 participants' daily diaries were analyzed and compared with initial parental reports.

Main Results:

  • The 'Wheeze' group exhibited significantly more subsequent wheezing episodes (median 16.8% of days) compared to other groups (median 0% of days).
  • Parental reports of asthma-like symptoms over the past 12 months showed strong consistency with symptoms prospectively recorded in the daily diaries.
  • The study demonstrated a reliable correlation between retrospective parental symptom recall and objective daily symptom tracking.

Conclusions:

  • Parental reports of respiratory symptoms in children are a reliable indicator of their actual respiratory health status.
  • This finding supports the use of parental questionnaires as a valid tool for assessing childhood respiratory conditions, including asthma.
  • Further research into specific indoor air pollutants and their impact on these validated symptom patterns is warranted.

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