Perceptual accuracy of upper airway compromise in children: Clinical relevance and future directions for research

Approximately 80% of children with asthma have coexisting allergic rhinitis. The accurate recognition and assessment of asthma and rhinitis symptoms is an integral component of guideline-based treatment for both conditions. This article describes the development and preliminary evaluation of a novel paradigm for testing the accuracy of children's assessment of their upper airway (rhinitis) symptoms. This work is guided by our previous research showing the clinical efficacy of tools to evaluate children's perceptual accuracy of asthma symptoms and linking accurate asthma symptom perception to decreased asthma morbidity (Fritz G, et al., Ethnic differences in perception of lung function: A factor in pediatric asthma disparities? Am J Respir Crit Care Med 182:12–18, 2010; Klein RB, et al., The Asthma Risk Grid: Clinical interpretation of symptom perception, Allergy Asthma Proc 251–256, 2004). The pilot study tests a paradigm that allows for the examination of the correspondence of children's assessment of their upper airway functioning with actual values of upper airway flow through the use of a portable, handheld nasal peak flowmeter. Nine children with persistent asthma were evaluated over a 4-week period. The article describes the rhinitis perceptual accuracy paradigm and reviews the results of a pilot study, showing a large proportion of inaccurate rhinitis symptoms “guesses” by the sample of children with persistent asthma. Patterns of inaccuracy, rhinitis control, and asthma morbidity are also described. Directions for future work are reviewed. The development of clinical tools to evaluate children's accuracy of rhinitis symptoms are needed, given the central role of the self-assessment of symptoms in guideline-based care. Accurate perception of the severity of rhinitis symptoms may enhance rhinitis control, lessen the burden of asthma, and prevent unnecessary emergency use among this high-risk group of children.