PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - V Gautier
AU  - H Redier
AU  - JL Pujol
AU  - J Bousquet
AU  - H Proudhon
AU  - C Michel
AU  - JP Daures
AU  - FB Michel
AU  - P Godard
TI  - Comparison of an expert system with other clinical scores for the evaluation of severity of asthma
AID  - 10.1183/09031936.96.09010058
DP  - 1996 Jan 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - 58--64
VI  - 9
IP  - 1
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/9/1/58.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/9/1/58.full
SO  - Eur Respir J1996 Jan 01; 9
AB  - "Asthmaexpert" was produced at the special request of several clinicians in order to obtain a better understanding of the medical decisions taken by clinical experts in the management of asthmatic patients. In order to assess the severity of asthma, a new score called Artificial Intelligence score (AI score), produced by Asthmaexpert, was compared with three other scores (Aas, Hargreave and Brooks). One hundred patients were enrolled prospectively in the study during their first consultation in the out-patient clinic. Distribution of severity level according to the different scores was studied, and the reliability between AI and other scores was evaluated by Kappa and MacNemar tests. Correlations with functional parameters were performed. The AI score assessed higher levels of severity than the other scores (Kappa = 18, 28 and 10% for Aas, Hargreave and Brooks, respectively) with significant MacNemar test in all cases. There was a significant correlation between AI score and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (r = 0.73). These data indicate that the AI score is a severity score which defines higher levels of severity than the chosen scores. Correlations for functional parameters are good. This score appears easy to use for the first consultation of an asthmatic patient.