Reliability and validity of childhood asthma control test in a population of Chinese asthmatic children
No quick and easy assessment tool is presently available to measure asthma control and outcome in Chinese children. We translated an established seven-item questionnaire into the Chinese Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-CACT) to measure asthma symptoms and their effect on daily function in 247 children aged 4–11 years enrolled from specialty clinics around Tainan. Subjects were classed as having either intermittent or persistent asthma and were evaluated at two outpatient visits 4–8 weeks apart (baseline and follow-up). C-CACT at baseline correlated significantly with physician evaluation scores (PES) except in predicted peak expiratory flow rate. There were significant differences for mean C-CACT score and mean PES between the intermittent group and persistent group. Internal consistency reliability of the survey was 0.741 at baseline and 0.759 at the follow-up visit. Test–retest reliability among 209 patients with the same specialist rating of asthma control at baseline and follow-up was r = 0.546 (P < 0.001). C-CACT scores of patients whose therapy needed to be stepped up was significantly lower than in those with unchanged or stepped-down therapy (F = 39.61, P < 0.001). C-CACT provides a reliable, valid, and responsive measure of asthma control in Chinese children.