Abstract
Background: The Asthma Severity Scoring System (ASSESS) quantifies asthma severity in adolescents and adults. Scale performance in children younger than 12 years is unknown. Objective: To validate the ASSESS score in the All Age Asthma Cohort and explore its use in children younger than 12 years. Methods: Scale properties, responsiveness, and known-group validity were assessed in 247 children (median age, 11 years; interquartile range, 8-13 years) and 206 adults (median age, 52 years; interquartile range, 43-63 years). Results: Overall, measures of internal test consistency and test-retest reliability were similar to the original data of the Severe Asthma Research Program. Cronbach α was 0.59 in children aged 12 to 18 years and 0.73 in adults, reflecting the inclusion of multiple and not-always congruent dimensions to the ASSESS score, especially in children. Analysis of known-group validity confirmed the discriminatory power, because the ASSESS score was significantly worse in patients with poor asthma control, exacerbations, and increased salbutamol use. In children aged 6 to 11 years, test-retest reliability was inferior compared with that in adults and adolescents (Cronbach α, 0.27) mostly because of a less lung function impairment in children with asthma of this age group. Known-group validity, however, confirmed good discriminative power regarding severity-associated variables similar to adolescents and adults. Conclusions: Test-retest reliability and validity of the ASSESS score was confirmed in the All Age Asthma Cohort. In children aged 6 to 11 years, internal consistency was inferior compared with that in older patients with asthma; however, test validity was good and thus encourages age-spanning usage of the ASSESS score in all patients 6 years or older.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
| Volume | 151 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1525-1535.e4 |
| ISSN | 0091-6749 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 06.2023 |
Funding
The ALLIANCE study is supported by project grants from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the German Center for Lung Research funding. Further funding was provided by the Cluster of Excellence RESIST (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Dörenkamp Foundation. L.R. was supported by the TITUS (The First Thousand Days of Life) Clinician Scientist Program, which is funded by the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung .
Research Areas and Centers
- Academic Focus: Center for Infection and Inflammation Research (ZIEL)
DFG Research Classification Scheme
- 2.22-20 Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine
- 2.22-13 Pneumology, Thoracic Surgery
