Abstract
BACKGROUND:
We sought to compare the accuracy of a newly developed childhood asthma score (CAS) with routine clinical assessment of respiratory status in children with acute asthma in predicting requirements for bronchodilator nebulization.
METHODS:
In this prospective observational study in children 2–18 y old with acute asthma, we evaluated the association between the CAS and routine clinical assessment as well as inter-rater agreement.
RESULTS:
The need for bronchodilator nebulization was assessed during 134 episodes of acute asthma in 47 children. Overall, bronchodilators were administered after routine clinical assessment in 74 episodes (55.2%). The median CAS was 2.5 (interquartile range of 2.0–3.0) for subjects who did not receive nebulization and 6.0 (interquartile range of 4.0–7.0) for subjects who did receive nebulization (P < .001). A CAS cutoff score of 4 yielded a sensitivity of 0.91 (95% CI 0.84–0.97) and a specificity of 0.77 (95% CI 0.66–0.87), with a positive predictive value of 0.83 (95% CI 0.75–0.91) and a negative predictive value of 0.87 (95% CI 0.78–0.96). In 79 episodes, the CAS was assessed by 2 independent raters. With a weighted kappa of 0.77, a good inter-rater agreement was obtained.
CONCLUSIONS:
Using a cutoff value of 4, the newly developed CAS accurately predicts the requirement for bronchodilator nebulization in children with acute asthma without use of auscultative findings.
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