Abstract
Background: Asthma Control test (ACT) has been proposed as a surrogate of the assessment of asthma control, but there is controversy if it corresponds to GINA criteria (O'Byrne, ERJ 2010).
Aim: To compare GINA assessment of asthma control and ACT score
Patients and methods: We evaluate 68 outpatients (33 in inhaled corticoseroids, ICS, treatment, and 35 ICS-naïve), with mild-to-moderate asthma. Assessment of asthma was based on symptom score (SS), rescue salbutamol (RS), PEF (MA%), pulmonary function, and asthma exacerbations in the last year (GINA guidelines).
Results: ACT score significantly correlated with SS (r= 0.49), RS (r= 0.46) and MA% (r= 0.45), not with FEV1. ACT score only partially correlated with GINA categories of well (WC), partly (PC) and uncontrolled (UC) patients.
Contingency table between asthma control level (according to GINA Guidelines, gold standard) and ACT categories
ACT ≥ 20 had high Positive Predictive Value for WC+PC (PPV: 78%), while ACT ≤ 19 had high Negative Predictive Value for UC (NPV: 89%).
Conclusion: Cut-of value of ACT has a good accuracy for detecting uncontrolled asthmatics, but not for distinguish well from partly controlled asthmatics. The high correlations with data derived from 2-week diary card recording support ACT as a simple tool for the quantification of symptomatic asthma control.
- © 2011 ERS
