Background: Inaccurate symptom perception is a key factor in increased morbidity and mortality in asthmatic patients. Information is sparse on whether children and their parents can accurately perceive severity of symptoms.
Objective: To determine symptom perceptual accuracy in children with asthma and either of their parents.
Methods: Fifty-two asthmatic children and either of their parents recorded independently, for 2 weeks, subjective evaluation of the child's symptoms on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS). Peak expiratory flow (PEF) was used as an objective measurement. Both VAS and PEF data were graded into green, yellow, and red zones. The 2 sets of VAS zones (children and parents) were separately matched with PEF zones to determine perceptual accuracy.
Results: Children and parents were accurate more than half of the time (60% and 62%, respectively), but accuracy decreased when the "child was unstable" (PEF <80% of personal best), with underestimation being significant (P < .001). Among the readings obtained, underestimation of severity of symptoms was significant in children with severe asthma (125 [45%] of 278 readings), those affected by environmental tobacco smoke (130 [24%] of 532), and those in the younger age group (127 [45%] of 280). Underestimation was significantly greater when PEF readings were in the yellow zone (P < .001).
Conclusions: Symptom perception by children was as reliable as that by their parents. However, parents and children tended to underestimate severity when the child was unstable. An early decline in PEF readings was missed by children and their parents, which could contribute to increased morbidity and mortality in this vulnerable age group.