Asthma Control Test™ in Assessment of Clinical Asthma Control

Abstract

Background. The goal of asthma treatment is to achieve and maintain control of the disease. Objective. To assess validity and reliability of Asthma Control TestTM (ACT) as a patient-based tool for quantifying the control of the disease in the subjects with persistent asthma. Methods. A cross-sectional study including 396 subjects with persistent asthma drown from a population of treated patients was performed. Evaluation of the examined subjects included completion of the ACT, spirometry, and asthma specialist rating of control. Results. The mean derived ACT score in all study subjects was 19.2±3.3. Prevalence of the study subjects with totally controlled (TC), well-controlled (WC) and not well-controlled (NWC) asthma by derived ACT score was 9.1%, 43.2% and 47.7%, respectively. Results from the spirometry showed that in 45% of the study subjects FEV1 value was less than 80%. Prevalence of the study subjects with TC, WC and NWC asthma by asthma specialist rating was 8.1%, 41.1% and 50.7%, respectively. A strong correlation between the derived ACT scores and asthma specialist rating of control was observed (r = 0.51, P = 0.000). Conclusion. Our data confirm the usefulness of the ACT as a valid and reliable screening tool for asthma control.