Wu YF, et al. - This study entailed the development as well as testing of a tool for predicting inhaled corticosteroid response in asthmatic children. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the prediction tool, developed in this study, affords a simple and low-cost method for predicting the response of inhaled corticosteroids treatment in asthmatic children.

Methods

• Recruitment of children aged 5 to 18 years with mild to moderate persistent asthma into the Taiwanese Consortium of Childhood Asthma Study was completed.
• Based on the improvements in the asthma control test and peak expiratory flow, responses to inhaled corticosteroids were assessed.
• Demographic and clinical features available in primary care settings were taken as predictors of responsiveness.
• Researchers developed a prediction model using logistic regression and simplified it to formulate a practical tool.
• Using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, they evaluated its predictive performance.

Results

• Data demonstrated that out of the 73 asthmatic children with baseline and follow-up outcome measurements for inhaled corticosteroids treatment, 24 (33%) were defined as non-responders.
• As regards to the tool developed in this study, it was noted that this tool consisted of 3 predictors yielding a total score between 0 and 5, which are comprised of the following parameters: the age at physician-diagnosis of asthma, sex, and exhaled nitric oxide.
• IAccording to the results, sensitivity and specificity of the tool for prediction of inhaled corticosteroids non-responsiveness, for a score of 3, were 0.75 and 0.69, respectively.
• In addition, researchers found that the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the prediction tool was 0.763.