Pilot Study of a Screening Questionnaire for Asthma

Abstract

There is concern regarding the underdiagnosis and undertreatment of asthma in children. This pilot study was designed to determine the specificity, sensitivity, and feasibility of using a two-part (child + parent questionnaire) case finding tool (Video-guided Asthma Screening for Children-School Age, VASC-SA) to identify elementary school children with asthma. The child checklist includes two practice items and nine items asking about asthma symptoms and diagnosis. The items are visually cued using a 10-min videotape using split-screen vignettes, one corresponding to a no response (most children do not...) and one to a yes response (some children...). Three case definition algorithms were examined (all included inhaled medication, or current diagnosis, or wheeze with 0, 1, or 2 other symptoms). The VASC-SA was administered to English-speaking children in grades 1-4 from one school. All parents were sent a written asthma questionnaire. Positive screens were compared with diagnosis obtained from physician r...