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Development and validation of school-based asthma and allergy screening questionnaires in a 4-city study

Susan Redline1, Rebecca S Gruchalla, Raoul L Wolf

  • 1Department of Pediatrics. Case Western Reserve University and Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology : Official Publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology
|July 30, 2004
PubMed

Insights

School-based questionnaires effectively screen for undiagnosed asthma and allergies in children. A student questionnaire (SQ) showed high sensitivity for detecting these common childhood conditions.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Allergy and Immunology
  • Public Health Screening

Background:

  • Asthma and allergies are frequently undiagnosed in pediatric populations.
  • Schools offer a unique setting for widespread screening of nearly all children.
  • Early identification is crucial for managing childhood respiratory conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the feasibility and validity of questionnaire-based tools for identifying undiagnosed asthma and respiratory allergies in school-aged children.
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of student questionnaires (SQ) and parent questionnaires (PQ) in diverse community settings.

Main Methods:

  • Development and administration of a student questionnaire (SQ) and a parent questionnaire (PQ) in four diverse communities.
  • Validation of questionnaire responses against standardized clinical assessments in children aged 7-13.
  • Evaluation of sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of questionnaire items using expert consensus.

Main Results:

  • Individual questionnaire items showed modest to moderate predictive value for asthma and allergies (ORs 2.5-5.0).
  • A 7-item SQ asthma screen achieved 80% sensitivity and 70% specificity for asthma detection (OR 9.3).
  • A 2-item SQ allergy screen demonstrated 81% sensitivity and 42% specificity for allergy detection.

Conclusions:

  • A 9-item student questionnaire (SQ) or a 10-item parent questionnaire (PQ) are viable tools for screening asthma and allergies in various settings.
  • The student questionnaire (SQ) offers a sensitive method for identifying children with previously undiagnosed asthma and allergies.
Abstract

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