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Validation of a Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire
Anna Minasyan1, Arman Babajanyan1,2, Dianne E Campbell1,3
1Sydney Medical School Nepean, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Insights
A new questionnaire accurately identifies allergies in young children. This tool helps assess food allergy, atopic dermatitis, and asthma in children aged 1-5 years, aiding in prevalence studies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
- Clinical Diagnostics
Background:
- Validated parental questionnaires exist for school-aged children's allergic disease incidence.
- No validated questionnaire currently assesses food allergy, atopic dermatitis (AD), and asthma in infants and young children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate the Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire for detecting AD, asthma, and IgE-mediated food allergies in children aged 1-5 years.
Main Methods:
- A nested case-control design involved 150 children aged 1-5 years attending pediatric clinics.
- Parents completed the Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire prior to clinical allergy assessment by a pediatrician.
- The questionnaire's sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility were evaluated.
Main Results:
- The questionnaire demonstrated high overall sensitivity (0.93) and good specificity (0.79) in identifying allergic diseases.
- Reproducibility was strong, with kappa agreement rates for symptom-related questions ranging from 0.45 to 0.90.
- Seventy-seven children were diagnosed with at least one current allergic condition.
Conclusions:
- The Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire accurately and reliably identifies allergies in children aged 1-5 years.
- This validated tool is suitable for determining allergy prevalence in this pediatric age group.
Background:
Parental questionnaires to assess incidence of pediatric allergic disease have been validated for use in school-aged children. Currently, there is no validated questionnaire-based assessment of food allergy, atopic dermatitis (AD), and asthma for infants and young children.
Methods:
The Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire was designed for detecting AD, asthma, and IgE-mediated food allergies in children aged 1-5 years. A nested case-control design was applied. Parents of 150 children attending pediatric outpatient clinics completed the questionnaire before being clinically assessed by a pediatrician for allergies. Sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of the questionnaire were assessed.
Results:
Seventy-seven children were diagnosed with one or more current allergic diseases. The questionnaire demonstrated high overall sensitivity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.86-0.98) with a specificity of 0.79 (95% CI 0.68-0.88). Questionnaire reproducibility was good with a kappa agreement rate for symptom-related questions of 0.45-0.90.
Conclusions:
Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire accurately and reliably reflects the presence of allergies in children aged 1-5 years. Its use is warranted as a tool for determining prevalence of allergies in this pediatric age group.
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