Evaluation of Asthma Control in Children Using Childhood- Asthma Control Test (C-ACT) and Asthma Therapy Assessment...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Asthma Management
• Clinical Assessment Tools

Background:

• Asthma is a prevalent chronic respiratory disease in children, requiring effective monitoring tools.
• Standardized criteria like the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guide asthma management.
• Validated questionnaires are essential for assessing asthma control in pediatric populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of the Childhood-asthma control test (C-ACT) and the Asthma therapy assessment questionnaire (ATAQ).
• To assess the consistency of C-ACT and ATAQ with Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) criteria.
• To determine the optimal cut-off score for C-ACT in the Indian pediatric population.

Main Methods:

• Asthma control in 97 children was assessed independently using C-ACT, ATAQ, and GINA criteria.
• Comparative analysis of the results obtained from the three assessment methods.
• Statistical evaluation including sensitivity, specificity, ROC curve analysis, and kappa score.

Main Results:

• C-ACT demonstrated better performance in evaluating asthma control aligned with GINA criteria (ROC area 0.647).
• An optimal cut-off score of 20 for C-ACT yielded the maximum ROC area (0.667) and a higher kappa score (0.315).
• ATAQ showed lower performance metrics (ROC area 0.552) and was deemed unsatisfactory for asthma control assessment.

Conclusions:

• The Childhood-asthma control test (C-ACT) is a valid tool for monitoring pediatric asthma control.
• A C-ACT cut-off score of 20 is recommended as more accurate for the Indian population.
• The Asthma therapy assessment questionnaire (ATAQ) is not satisfactory for evaluating asthma control in this context.