A study of correlation between asthma control test and lung function parameters

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Asthma control is the extent to which symptoms of asthma observed in patients and reduction in symptoms after treatment. Simple screening tools are available to assess asthma control. Asthma control test is a simple numerical scoring system that can be easily used on a routine basis. Latest GINA guidelines stress that asthma control is the main objective of asthma treatment. In this COVID pandemic situation there is a hesitancy in performing and undergoing pulmonary function tests among physicians and the patients. Hence in this study was planned to correlate the asthma control test values with FEV1 and other parameters like PEFR, AEC and serum magnesium. Methods: This study was conducted at Department of Pulmonary Medicine, SRM Hospital & Research centre, Chennai. It is a retrospective cross-sectional observational study. Patients of Bronchial Asthma in line with GINA Guidelines were included in the study. AIMS and OBJECTIVES: To study the correlation between asthma control test and FEV1, To study the correlation between asthma control test and other parameters like Peak expiratory flow rate, Absolute eosinophil count and Serum magnesium. Results: Asthma control test had positive correlation with FEV1 with a spearman's correlation of 0.2758 and P value of 0.0414 which was statistically significant. The spearman's correlation between Asthma control test and AEC was -0.4583 with a P value of 0.00043, which was significant. The correlation of asthma control test with serum magnesium was 0.3414 with a p value of 0.010. Conclusion: Asthma control test score had a significant positive correlation with FEV1 and serum magnesium levels. It also had significant negative correlation with Absolute eosinophil count (inflammatory marker). Hence Asthma control test can be used as tool for treatment response in the current COVID pandemic situation and also in resource limited settings.