Quantifying asthma symptoms in adults: The Lara Asthma Symptom Scale

• Published in: Journal of allergy and clinical immunology Vol. 120; no. 6; pp. 1368 - 1372
• Main Authors: Wood, Pamela Runge, MD, Smith, Brad, PhD, O'Donnell, Louise, PhD, Galbreath, Autumn Dawn, MD, MBA, Lara, Marielena, MD, MPH, Forkner, Emma, RN, MS, Peters, Jay I., MD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Mosby, Inc 01.12.2007; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Allergy and Immunology; Asthma; Asthma - diagnosis; Asthma - physiopathology; Asthma - therapy; asthma symptoms; Biological and medical sciences; Body mass index; Disease management; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Health status indicators; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Lara; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; outcome assessment; Pediatrics; Predictive Value of Tests; psychometrics; Quality of life; questionnaire; Questionnaires; Respiratory Function Tests; Sarcoidosis. Granulomatous diseases of unproved etiology. Connective tissue diseases. Elastic tissue diseases. Vasculitis; Severity of Illness Index; Statistical methods; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity; Voice recognition; United States; North America; America; questionnaire; Hispanic Americans; psychometrics; asthma; AQLQ; ACQ; Asthma Control Questionnaire; ACT; Emergency department; severity of illness index; LASS; Lara Asthma Symptom Scale; Juniper's Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire; asthma symptoms; outcome assessment; Health status indicators; quality of life; Asthma Control Test; ED; Human; Lung disease; Immunopathology; Prognosis; Questionnaire; Respiratory disease; Psychometrics; Latinamerican; Asthma; Quality of life; Symptomatology; Health status; Immunology; Bronchus disease; Adult; Evolution; Severity score; Obstructive pulmonary disease; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0091-6749; 1097-6825
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2007.09.025

Background Accurate assessment of asthma symptoms is critical in research and clinical settings. A multidimensional asthma control questionnaire could provide more accurate information about asthma symptoms than global assessments, which often overestimate asthma control. Objective We sought to evaluate the efficacy of the Lara Asthma Symptom Scale (LASS) in adults with persistent asthma. Methods Participants were 18 to 64 years of age with persistent asthma. Data were collected at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. We described the construct and predictive validity of the LASS by comparing it with measures of pulmonary function (FEV1 ), asthma-specific quality of life (Juniper's Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire [AQLQ]), and health care use (emergency department [ED] visits and hospitalizations). Results Three hundred eighty-three participants provided baseline data. The LASS had high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach α = .84). LASS scores correlated significantly with baseline measures of FEV1 (−0.20, P = .0002), AQLQ (−0.68, P < .0001), ED visits (0.17, P = .002), and hospitalizations (0.15, P = .008). Baseline LASS scores were associated significantly with ED visits ( P = .03) and hospitalizations ( P = .04) over the subsequent 12 months. Change in LASS scores over time correlated significantly with changes in FEV1 (−0.22, P = .001) and AQLQ (−0.70, P < .001). Conclusions The LASS demonstrated good internal consistency, excellent validity based on concurrent criterion validity and longitudinal predictive validity, and good discriminatory properties in a heterogeneous sample of adults with persistent asthma. Clinical implications This study validates a simple multidimensional asthma questionnaire as a clinical tool in the assessment of asthma control in adults.