Comparison of Asthma Control among Children 5–18 Years of Age by Asthma Control Test Questionnaire of Global Initiative for Asthma 2017 (GINA-2017) Against Spirometry

• Published in: Indian journal of pediatrics Vol. 90; no. 8; pp. 770 - 775
• Main Authors: M, Jahnavi, N.C, Gowrishankar, K, Nedunchelian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-08-2023
• Subjects: Adolescent; Asthma - diagnosis; Asthma - drug therapy; Child; Child, Preschool; Forced Expiratory Volume; Gynecology; Humans; Lung; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Article; Pediatrics; Spirometry; Surveys and Questionnaires; Spirometry; Asthma; Asthma Control Test
• ISSN: 0019-5456; 0973-7693
• DOI: 10.1007/s12098-022-04162-8

Objective
To compare asthma control by Asthma Control Test (ACT)/Childhood Asthma Control Test (cACT) Questionnaire of Global Initiative for Asthma 2017 (GINA-2017) against spirometry in children, 5–18 y of age, with asthma.
Methods
A prospective observational study was conducted between July 2017 and March 2019 in pulmonology OPD of a tertiary care center. Children with asthma aged 5–18 y, falling under the inclusion criteria had spirometry and cACT/ACT questionnaire before starting inhaled corticosteroids. After 12 wk, symptom control was reassessed by ACT/cACT and spirometry. Chi-square/Fischer exact test and paired
t-
test/Mann–Whitney
U
test used for qualitative and quantitative data, respectively.
Results
ACT/cACT pretreatment score was 12.76 (2.521), and at follow-up the score was 23.94 (1.941) (
p
< 0.001). Control by GINA increased from 2.04% to 91.84% at follow-up (
p
< 0.001). Significant improvement in forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1), forced expiratory volume/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC), forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of FVC (FEF
25−75
) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) between pretreatment and follow-up seen were −71.86%, 106.84%, 101.82%, and 97.51% vs. 82.2%, 109.55%, 110.38%, and 107.00%, respectively. Positive correlation between ACT/cACT and FEV1 (
r
 = 0.26,
p
 ≤ 0.05), PEFR (
r
 = 0.30,
p
 ≤ 0.05).
Conclusions
There is a good correlation of symptom control between ACT/cACT and spirometry with significant positive correlation for FEV1, PEFR.