New Five-Question Test Helps Assess Asthma Control in Children Under Five Ye...( WILMINGTON Del. July 15 /...),Health

WILMINGTON, Del., July 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Caregivers of children under five years of age can now answer five simple questions to determine if their child's breathing problems are not under control. AstraZeneca funded a research project to create the Test for Respiratory and Asthma Control in Kids, or TRACK, the first validated respiratory- and asthma-control assessment test specifically for patients under five years of age. TRACK helps evaluate respiratory control based on guidelines -- defined asthma impairment and risk. This easy to use, caregiver-completed test for respiratory and asthma control is available at www.AsthmaTRACKtest.com.

Although 80 percent of children with asthma demonstrate symptoms before age five(1), there are limitations to objective lung function tests for children in this age group(2). Young children also have trouble expressing their feelings of chest discomfort and shortness of breath -- making it difficult to assess asthma control in this age group. Asthma is the most common serious chronic childhood disease, affecting nearly nine million children in the United States at some point in their lifetime(3). Asthma is a leading cause of activity limitation, hospitalization and medical costs for children and their families(2).

"Given the increasingly limited physician-child-caregiver interaction time, TRACK can help collect basic information about breathing problems before a doctor's visit, thereby saving time for more in-depth and focused discussions during the visit," said Kevin R. Murphy, MD, FAAP, pediatric pulmonologist at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, NE and a member of The American Academy of Pediatrics Quality, Improvement and Innovation Network (QuIIN).

The five asthma management questions in the TRACK tool assess the frequency of respiratory sympt
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