Hindi Translation and Validation of Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT)

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Clinical Assessment Tools
• Asthma Management

Background:

• Asthma is a prevalent chronic respiratory disease in children, necessitating accurate and accessible assessment tools.
• The Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT) is a valuable instrument for evaluating asthma control.
• Validating C-ACT in different linguistic and cultural contexts, such as for Hindi-speaking populations, is crucial for its global applicability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To translate and validate the Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT) into Hindi.
• To assess the reliability and validity of the Hindi C-ACT in children with newly diagnosed asthma.
• To evaluate the correlation between the Hindi C-ACT scores and established Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) criteria.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 60 children (aged 5-11 years) with newly diagnosed asthma were enrolled.
• Participants were followed for 12 weeks with assessments every 4 weeks.
• Asthma control was evaluated using the Hindi C-ACT and GINA criteria.

Main Results:

• The Hindi C-ACT demonstrated a statistically significant correlation with GINA criteria across all visits.
• Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.74, and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient) was 0.83.
• The tool achieved high sensitivity (97.9%) at a cutoff score of ≥20, with an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.95, though specificity was noted as poor (25%).

Conclusions:

• The Hindi version of the C-ACT is a valid and reliable measure for assessing asthma control in children.
• The Hindi C-ACT scores correlate well with GINA criteria, supporting its use in clinical practice.
• While demonstrating high sensitivity, the poor specificity of the Hindi C-ACT at the determined cutoff requires consideration in differentiating asthma control levels.