The pulmonary index score as a clinical assessment tool for acute childhood asthma.

Background: Asthma in the pediatric population imposes a significant burden on the Australian health care system. The lack of a standardized asthma assessment tool is an area that needs to be addressed.

Objective: To validate the pulmonary index score (PIS) against the National Asthma Council Guidelines (NACG) asthma assessment.

Methods: The project was approved by The Children's Hospital at Westmead Human Research Ethics Committee. Sixty-five patients aged 1 to 12 years with acute asthma were assessed independently using both the PIS and the NACG on presentation to the emergency department.

Results: These results indicate that the PIS (1) has high internal consistency (Cronbach α = .835); (2) correlates well with the NACG, with significant differences in PIS values across different NACG severity categories; (3) predicts with good sensitivity (85% for nonmild cases and 88% for severe cases) and specificity (75% for nonmild cases and 77% for severe cases) the various categories of asthma severity according to the NACG; and (4) significantly differs between admitted (mean PIS = 8.4) and nonadmitted (mean PIS = 5.0) patients.

Conclusion: Use of the PIS may provide an objective and standardized approach to the assessment and monitoring of asthma in children.