Characterization of the Japanese Scoring System for Bronchial Asthma in Children

Abstract

Background : The Japanese Society for Pediatric Asthma proposed a scoring system for the intensity of treatment in its guidelines for bronchial asthma published in 1998. To characterize the scoring system, we analyzed what factors had an effect on the treatment point in asthma patients, and whether the scoring system was useful for evaluation of asthma severity. Methods : We enrolled 125 children (77 boys and 48 girls, mean age± S.D. : 7.6 ± 3.4 years old) with bronchial asthma who visited our asthma clinic throughout a year (1999). We calculated the treatment points by reviewing the diary in which symptoms and treatments in each subject were recorded by his/her parents through a year. Results : Either age, gender, or type of asthma had no significant effect on either the maximum (p = 0.89) or the minimum (p = 0.15) values of the treatment point with in the study year. The component of the treatment points depended on the asthma severity. The greatest component of the maximum treatment point was the use of oral theophylline in patients with mild and moderate asthma-severity (35.7% and 26.0% of total point, respectively) whereas intravenous theophylline in patients with severe asthma. Significant determinants of maximum treatment point were the asthma severity in the preceding year (1998), that in the study year (1999) and minimum treatment point. Conclusions : Proper use of the treatment point might help physicians to provide better medical treatment in each patient.