An exploratory study on the validity and reliability of the Greek translation of Juniper’s Asthma Control Questionnaire in pediatric patients in Greece

Abstract

Aim: Evaluation of asthma control is the first step in the management of pediatric patient symptoms. The aim of this study was to a) validate the accuracy of the Greek version of the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) in quantifying asthma status in Greek pediatric patients; b) compare the 6-item with the 7-item ACQ; and c) explore the discriminatory power of the ACQ in relation to medication use. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of pulmonary data from 64 primary school children with mild asthma (51% boys). At baseline and 6 months, pulmonary function was recorded using spirometry and asthma control using the Greek version of the ACQ. Validity was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Results: Cronbach’s alpha showed good internal consistency for both the 7-item and 6-item ACQ (alpha = 0.67, 0.74 respectively). No differences in scores were observed in the presence/or absence of medication therapy. Conclusions: The findings of this study showed good precision and internal consistency of the 6-item ACQ in measuring recent asthma control in Greek children of the mild-asthma phenotype, independent of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and medication use. This suggests that the 6-item questionnaire alone is potentially a robust tool in assessing asthma symptom control in children when pulmonary function tests (PFTs) are not feasible.