PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Nicholas Tayler
AU  - Judith Holloway
AU  - Kerry Gove
AU  - Chris Grainge
TI  - Perception of lung function in asthmatics by visual analogue scale
DP  - 2014 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P3965
VI  - 44
IP  - Suppl 58
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3965.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3965.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44
AB  - Introduction: The majority of asthmatics self-manage their condition in relation to their symptoms, so it is important that the patient can recognise when their lung function is deteriorating. This can be quantified by a visual analogue scale (VAS). VAS has been shown to correlate to lung function, but the repeatability has not been examined.Aim: To discover whether asthmatic patients can use VAS as an accurate and repeatable indicator of their lung function.Methods: 17 patients were recruited and underwent two methacholine challenges and an allergen challenge. At each challenge stage the patient was asked to indicate their lung function by marking a 200mm horizontal line labelled “No asthma symptoms” at one end and “Worst possible asthma symptoms” at the other.Results: In all three challenges decreasing FEV1 correlated with increased VAS measurements showing that patients can perceive changes in lung function (R=0.572 p<0.0001).The variability between VAS scores for the whole study population was high (R2= 0.33), which was dramatically reduced by examining each patient individually (mean R2=0.87 95%CI=0.82 to 0.91).Changes in gradient of FEV1:VAS were examined in each patient between challenges to test repeatability, and no significant difference was found between gradients (p=0.43, p=0.20, p=0.26 ) indicating this may be a repeatable measure.Conclusions: We can conclude that asthmatics can accurately perceive their lung function, and that this may be repeatable if calibrated to the individual patient. Further study is warranted to determine if this would make a suitable monitoring tool, which could be a simpler tool than the current BTS recommended questionnaires.