IngentaConnect Asthma score: predictive ability and risk factors

Authors: Sunyer, J.¹; Pekkanen, J.²; Garcia-Esteban, R.¹; Svanes, C.³; Künzli, N.⁴; Janson, C.⁵; de Marco, R.⁶; Antó, J. M.¹; Burney, P.⁷

Source: Allergy, Volume 62, Number 2, February 2007 , pp. 142-148(7)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Abstract:

Background:

Definition of asthma as a continuous score is a promising tool for population studies that has not yet been fully evaluated. Objective:

We assessed (i) the predictive ability of an asthma score against the occurrence of different asthma-related outcomes and (ii) the risk factors identified when using an asthma score. Methods:

The European Community Respiratory Health Study II included subjects from the general population randomly studied during 1991-1993 who were followed up in the years 1998-2001, from 29 centres in 14 countries. A total of 8956 subjects were included. The asthma score consisted of a simple sum of the positive answers to five respiratory symptoms. Results:

Asthma score at baseline showed a linear relationship with incidence of asthma, the occurrence of asthma attacks, use of asthma medication and bronchial reactivity at the end of the follow-up. Asthma score at the end of follow-up was associated with known risk factors at baseline such as IgE to grass, rhinitis or body mass index, in addition to passive smoking in men [average score ratio (RR) = 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09-1.50] or changes in body mass index (RR = 1.27; 95% CI 1.05-1.27, per each kg/m²). Conclusion:

The asthma score had good predictive ability against outcomes related with asthma and also good ability to detect risk factors. This encourages the use of the score as a measure of asthma in epidemiological studies on aetiology of asthma.

Keywords: asthma; lung function; score; validity

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2006.01184.x

Affiliations: 1: Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain 2: Environmental Epidemiology Unit, National Public Health Institute, and Dept. of Public Health and General Practice, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland 3: Department of Thoracic Medicine, 5021 Haukeland Hospital, Bergen, Norway 4: Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 5: Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden 6: Department of Medicine and Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Statistics, University of Verona, Verona, Italy 7: Department of Respiratory Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK

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