New Asthma Control Test for Children

A new 7-item questionnaire that identifies children aged 4 to11 who have poorly controlled asthma was revealed at theannual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in earlyOctober. Called the Childhood Asthma Control Test, it isdesigned for use in a pediatrician's office. The test asks children,with a caregiver's assistance, to answer 4 questions,while the caregiver answers the other 3. It complements a similartest already available for children aged 12 and older that issupported by the American Lung Association.

The researchers developed the test based on a trial of a 21-item questionnaire administered to 344 patients with asthmaand their caregivers in 9 specialist clinics throughout the UnitedStates. The results were compared with specialists' ratings ofasthma control based on patient history and spirometry (a fastand easy lung function test performed in the physician's office).The researchers were able to reduce the number of items to the7 that were best able to discriminate a child's asthma controlstatus.