Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
3
pubmed:dateCreated
1992-10-6
pubmed:abstractText
Because there is no "gold standard" for defining asthma for epidemiology, we have defined current asthma as bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) plus recent wheeze (in the 12 months prior to study). To describe the characteristics of groups categorized by these measurements, we studied two samples of children aged 7 to 12 yr: 210 from a population sample and 142 self-identified asthmatics. Bronchial responsiveness to histamine was measured by the rapid method, respiratory symptom history, and asthma medication use by self-administered questionnaire to parents and atopy by skin prick tests to 14 allergens. Children recorded daily Airflometer readings and symptom scores for 2 wk. Children with current asthma had more severe bronchial responsiveness, greater Airflometer variability, more symptoms, more atopy (particularly to house dust mites), and used more asthma medication than children with BHR or recent wheeze alone. Children with BHR, but not with recent wheeze, were intermediate between the current asthma and normal groups in terms of bronchial responsiveness, Airflometer variability, and atopy. Children with recent wheeze and normal responsiveness differed from the normal group only in symptoms and medication use. Our definition of current asthma discriminates a group of children that is clearly different in terms of both clinical features and physiologic measures. As such, it is the most useful definition to date for measuring the prevalence of clinically important asthma in populations.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
AIM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
0003-0805
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
146
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
633-7
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1992
pubmed:articleTitle
Toward a definition of asthma for epidemiology.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Medicine, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't