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Background:
The multicenter
International Study
of Wheezing in
Infants (EISL) was
developed to study
the prevalence of
recurrent wheezing
and related risk
factors in infants
during the first
year of life using a
written
questionnaire (EISL-WQ).
Objectives:
To constructively
validate a modified,
shortened version of
the EISL-WQ in
children up to 36
months of age in São
Paulo, Brazil, and
to verify its
usefulness in
diagnosing probable
asthma in these
children.
Methods: The
parents of 170
infants aged 12 to
36 months answered
the shortened
EISL-WQ in an
emergency room and
were asked if their
child was currently
wheezing before a
diagnosis was made
by a physician. The
consistency between
parent perception
and the physicians
diagnosis was then
evaluated. A second
group (n = 55)
participated in the
validation of the
short-term
repeatability of the
shortened
questionnaire by
completing it twice
(mean interval, 23
days).
Results:
There was good
agreement between
parent perception of
wheezing and the
physicians
diagnosis following
auscultation (Kappa
statistic = 0.7;
odds ratio = 38.33;
95% confidence
interval, 15.8 to
92.8; P < .001);
sensitivity (82.8%),
specificity (85.0%),
positive predictive
value (81.5%), and
negative predictive
value (86.0%) were
all high. The
short-term
repeatability of the
shortened version of
the EISL-WQ was also
high (κ > 0.75).
Questions added to
the shortened
EISL-WQ improved the
internal consistency
of the original
questionnaire
(Cronbach α = 0.823,
P < .001) and a high
Youden index was
found for patients
defined as probable
asthmatics.
Conclusions:
The shortened
version of the
EISL-WQ translated
into Portuguese has
high internal
consistency, and is
a valid, reliable,
and
reproducibleinstrument
for obtaining data
on wheezing in
children below 36
months of age and
for identifying
those with probable
asthma.
Key words:
Asthma. Infants.
Written
questionnaire.
Reproducibility.
Validation.
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