Asthma control measurement using five different questionnaires: a prospective study.
UNLABELLED
Questionnaires play a key place in the assessment of asthma control. Different questionnaires have been developed. However, it remains largely unknown whether they can be used interchangeably. We wondered whether the panel of frequently used scores would give similar measurement of asthma control. The present study aimed to assess the agreement between five specific questionnaires.


METHODS
In this prospective study, ninety-nine patients completed five commonly used asthma control scores: the GINA, the Asthma Control Test™, the Royal College of Physician score, the Asthma Therapy Assessment Questionnaire (ATAQ), and the Asthma Control Questionnaire(©) (ACQ). The kappa coefficient was used to assess the agreement between questionnaires.


RESULTS
The agreement between the GINA and other scores was only moderate (kappa coefficients amounted from 0.41 to 0.60). With respect to the "controlled" level, all the other scores gave higher results than GINA. All other scores also tended to underestimate GINA "uncontrolled level". For the "partly controlled level" defined by 3 of the 5 questionnaires, ACQ identified the same percentage of patients than GINA while ATAQ overestimated this percentage.


CONCLUSION
This study shows only moderate agreement between five commonly used asthma control scores. The GINA score showed the lowest percentage of controlled and the highest percentage of uncontrolled asthma. As a consequence, all these scores do not seem to evaluate the same symptoms.


TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
NCT01350661.