The Association of Functional (Spirographic and Peak Flow Metric) Characteristics and Clinical Evaluations of Bronchial Asthma Control in Children and Teenagers

The aim of the investigation is to estimate the association of bronchial asthma control level indices according to Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) with indices of peak expiratory flow (PEF) and forced expiratory volume 1-second (FEV1) measured simultaneously with the interviewing.

Materials and Methods. There were examined 127 children and teenagers aged 5–17 years with atopic asthma of various levels of asthma control. Apart from standard clinical (including anthropometry), functional, immunologic, allergological examinations, all children underwent questionnaire survey according to ACQ, PEF measurement using peak-flowmetry, and the measurement of basic spirographic indices.

Results. There was revealed the correlation relationship between ACQ test indices (in points), for one part, and PEF and FEV1 (in percentage of adequate values) measured in the daytime, for the other part. The correlation coefficient between ACQ and FEV1 was –0.65, p=0.00001, that is higher than the coefficient between ACQ and PEF (r=–0.39; p=0.00001). To estimate the potential contribution of data of functional parameters in the diagnostics of asthma control there was performed discriminative analysis. A part of correctly classified cases relying on functional parameters was 53% for PEF and 66% for FEV1, i.e. the classification of bronchial asthma control level with the assistance of FEV1 monitoring has advantages as compared to PEF measurements.

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Eliseeva Т.I., Geppe N.A., Balabolkin I.I. The Association of Functional (Spirographic and Peak Flow Metric) Characteristics and Clinical Evaluations of Bronchial Asthma Control in Children and Teenagers. Sovremennye tehnologii v medicine 2012; (4): 54