A New Tool for Monitoring Asthma Outcomes: The ITG Asthma Short Form

Background: Asthma treatment has broadened from managing clinical markers to incorporate factors that are most meaningful to patients, collectively called health-related quality of life (HQL). Objective: To develop an asthma-specific HQL tool, meeting demands for brevity, usefulness and measurement...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quality of life research 2000-05, Vol.9 (4), p.451-466
Main Authors: Bayliss, Martha S., Derek M. Espindle, Buchner, Deborah, Michael S. Blaiss, Ware, John E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Asthma
Asthma - rehabilitation
Datasets
Factor analysis
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Health care outcome assessment
Health outcomes
Health Status
Humans
Lungs
Male
Middle Aged
Prevention programs
Psychometrics
Psychometrics - methods
Quality of Life
Questionnaires
Reproducibility of Results
Severity of illness indices
Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
United States
Validity
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Background: Asthma treatment has broadened from managing clinical markers to incorporate factors that are most meaningful to patients, collectively called health-related quality of life (HQL). Objective: To develop an asthma-specific HQL tool, meeting demands for brevity, usefulness and measurement precision. Methods: The 20-item Sydney Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) and six additional items were studied using factor analysis, reliability and validity tests among asthma patients 14 and older. Results: The 15-item Integrated Therapeutics Group Asthma Short Form (ITG-ASF) retains the validity of the AQLQ with improved scaling properties and interpretability. The ITG-ASF yields 6 scores: Symptom-Free Index, Functioning with Asthma, Psychosocial Impact of Asthma, Asthma Energy and Asthma-Confidence in Health and a Total. All items correlated 0.40 or higher with their hypothesized scales and passed discriminant validity tests, with scaling success rates from 75 to 100%. Reliability exceeded the minimum of 0.70 for group comparisons. Ceiling and floor effects were acceptable. Scales were valid in relation to changes in asthma severity and lung function. The best predictor of asthma severity (National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) staging) was the Symptom-Free Index. A Spanish translation is available, Chinese-American is forthcoming. The reading grade level is 4.8. Conclusions: Development of the ITG-ASF was a data-driven process maximizing measurement precision and breadth while minimizing burden. The ITG-ASF is a brief, comprehensive and empirically valid tool that complements traditional markers of the outcomes of asthma care.
ISSN:0962-9343
1573-2649
DOI:10.1023/A:1008939328060