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Validation of a Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire
Author(s) -
Minasyan Anna,
Babajanyan Arman,
Campbell Dianne E.,
Nanan Ralph
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pediatric allergy and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.269
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1399-3038
pISSN - 0905-6157
DOI - 10.1111/pai.12415
Subject(s) - medicine , allergy , asthma , pediatrics , atopic dermatitis , food allergy , incidence (geometry) , immunology , physics , optics
Background Parental questionnaires to assess incidence of pediatric allergic disease have been validated for use in school‐aged children. Currently, there is no validated questionnaire‐based assessment of food allergy, atopic dermatitis (AD), and asthma for infants and young children. Methods The Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire was designed for detecting AD, asthma, and IgE‐mediated food allergies in children aged 1–5 years. A nested case–control design was applied. Parents of 150 children attending pediatric outpatient clinics completed the questionnaire before being clinically assessed by a pediatrician for allergies. Sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of the questionnaire were assessed. Results Seventy‐seven children were diagnosed with one or more current allergic diseases. The questionnaire demonstrated high overall sensitivity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.86–0.98) with a specificity of 0.79 (95% CI 0.68–0.88). Questionnaire reproducibility was good with a kappa agreement rate for symptom‐related questions of 0.45–0.90. Conclusions Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire accurately and reliably reflects the presence of allergies in children aged 1–5 years. Its use is warranted as a tool for determining prevalence of allergies in this pediatric age group.