Rationale Recent guidelines focus on adjusting asthma treatment to the level of asthma control. The availability of a web-based asthma control questionnaire offers the possibility to assess asthma control without the need of outpatient clinic visits. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement between web-based and paper-based versions of the Asthma Control Test (ACT) and Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT), short-term reproducibility and satisfaction with both versions. Methods One hundred seventy-three children with stable asthma and a normal lung function were randomized to fill in a web-based or paper-based version of the C-ACT (4-11 years) or ACT (12-18 years). According to a cross-over design, they completed the opposite version after 1 week. Reproducibility was evaluated by repeating the 2nd version (web- or paper-based) 7 days later. Results Eighty-eight children filled in the C-ACT, 68 children filled in the ACT. Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for web-based versus paper-based C-ACT was 0.81 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.72-0.87). For ACT this was 0.84 (95% CI 0.76-0.90). For web-based and paper-based C-ACT the reproducibility ICC was 0.82 (95% CI 0.67-0.90) and 0.75 (95% CI 0.59-0.85), respectively. The reproducibility ICC of the ACT for web- and paper-based versions was 0.93 (95% CI 0.87-0.97) and 0.77 (95% CI 0.59-0.88), respectively. Eighty-six percent of patients preferred the web-based version. Conclusion The web-based version of the C-ACT and ACT is reproducible and comparable with the paper-based version in assessing asthma control. Most children and their parents prefer the web-based version. Copyright

, , , , ,
doi.org/10.1002/ppul.21458, hdl.handle.net/1765/30860
Pediatric Pulmonology
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Koolen, B. B., Pijnenburg, M., Brackel, H., Landstra, A. M., van den Berg, N., Merkus, P., … Vaessen-Verberne, A. (2011). Validation of a web-based version of the asthma control test and childhood asthma control test. Pediatric Pulmonology, 46(10), 941–948. doi:10.1002/ppul.21458