Concordance of provider chart notation and guideline-based classification of asthma severity

To evaluate concordance of asthma severity classification via physician chart notation compared with guideline-based criteria in adolescents with diagnosed asthma.

Of 284 urban primary care and subspecialty clinic patients aged 13-18 years approached through convenience sampling, 203 surveys were completed (RR = 71.5%). We assessed concordance with sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values; overall agreement was evaluated with weighted kappa coefficients and McNemar's test.

When considering prescribed treatment according to NAEPP guidelines as a gold standard, the sensitivity for chart notation was very good for intermittent (95%) and less for non-intermittent severity ratings (51%, 58%, and 67% for moderate, severe, and mild persistent asthma, respectively). Overall agreement between chart notation and guideline-based asthma criteria ranged from fair-to-good for mild- (k = 0.36), moderate- (k = 0.44), and severe-persistent severity (k = 0.66). Although the agreement for intermittent severity was highest (k = 0.88), it did not significantly differ by between the two classifications (p ≥ 0.05).

Concordance for all non-intermittent asthma severity classifications varied between physician and medication-driven 2007 NAEPP guideline classifications in an ethnically diverse urban adolescent patient sample. Physicians should remain aware of the potential for this discordance and refer to the guidelines to classify and treat adolescents with asthma.