Spirometry Improves Assessment of Asthma Severity in Children

Clinical symptoms are a mainstay in assessing asthma severity as well as therapeutic control in children. To evaluate the utility of spirometry in this setting, investigators compared asthma severity scores from spirometry with clinically derived ratings using current guidelines in 894 children aged 5 to 19 years identified from an asthmatic referral clinic. Based on clinical severity ratings, 61.7% of patients had intermittent or mild, persistent asthma; 33.4% had moderate, persistent asthma; and 4.8% had severe, persistent asthma.

Initial office spirometry results showed significantly decreased forced vital capacity (FVC) percent predicted, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁) percent predicted, and FEV₁/FVC with increasing clinical…