Impulse oscillometry provides an effective measure of lung dysfunction in 4-year-old children at risk for persistent asthma.

Background: Objective lung function measurements are routinely used to diagnose and manage asthma, but their utility for young children has not been defined.

Objective: Bronchodilator responses were measured by means of impulse oscillometry (IOS) and compared with conventional spirometry to determine the value of lung function measures in 4-year-old asthma-prone children.

Methods: The study participants were in the Childhood Asthma Prevention Study (National Institute of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and at risk for asthma.

Morbidity patterns among low-income wheezing infants.

Objective: This study describes morbidity attributable to wheezing illness in a multi-ethnic sample of low-income infants younger than age 2, and examines biological, environmental, and psychosocial correlates of morbidity indexes.

Method: Infants 9 to 24 months old, considered at risk for developing asthma on the basis of having had 3 or more health care contacts with documented wheezing, received comprehensive evaluations as part of an environmental intervention study. Baseline evaluations with the infants, their families, and their home environments focused on biological, environmental, and psychosocial factors that would potentially increase asthma risk for the children.

Caregiver negative affect is a primary determinant of caregiver report of pediatric asthma quality of life.

Background: Quality of life has increased in popularity as an outcome measure in health research. However, the measurement of quality of life has been questioned on methodologic grounds, as it often shows little association with objective measures of disease status.

Objective: For this report we studied the determinants of pediatric asthma caregiver report of quality of life and its relationship to disease burden.

Reliability and validity of a system for coding asthma outcomes from medical records.

To evaluate the reliability and validity of a standardized asthma outcome coding system, we obtained medical records for 182 asthmatic children. Records were coded by trained staff using explicit and detailed criteria. Outcome variables coded included number of corticosteroid bursts, asthma-related physician contacts, emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and number of asthma episodes.

Unraveling the ecology of risks for early childhood asthma among ethnically diverse families in the southwest.

Objectives: We describe the prevalence of asthma risk factors within racial/ethnic and language groups of infants participating in an intervention study for reducing chronic asthma.

Methods: Low-income children aged 9 to 24 months with 3 or more episodes of wheezing illness were enrolled. Baseline information included family and medical histories, allergic status, environmental exposures, emotional environment, and caregiver psychosocial resources.