[Comparison between peak expiratory flow rate and daily report of the symptoms in asthmatic children (author's transl)].

In a group of 140 asthmatic children (6-15 years old) followed up for six months, the authors compared : (1) the daily transcription of asthmatic symptoms, of their intensity and of the use of antibiotics or corticosteroids ; (2) the peak expiratory flow rate measured daily at nine a.m. ; (3) the clinical history, coded every fifth day. A clinical score was computed by multiple linear correlation between (1) and (3), with a correlation coefficient of 0.84 (p less than 0.001), showing that the propounded quantification of symptoms and treatments was very good for estimating the clinical history. The coefficient of simple linear correlation between peak expiratory flow rate and score (r = --0.41) and between peak expiratory flow rate and clinical history (r = --0.65) was statistically significant ; however a further computation by stepwise multiple linear correlation showed that the peak expiratory flow rate was essentially correlated to the intensity of the symptoms, and to a lesser degree to the presence of breathlessness and prescription of corticosteroids. The correlation coefficient was -- 0.55 (p less than 0.01). Thus the peak expiratory flow rate does not very well account for the clinical state of asthmatics ; useful for the fast but superficial monitoring of patients, it cannot replace the daily transcription of symptoms and treatments : both methods are complementary.