Validation of the Spanish and English versions of the asthma portion of the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen Plus among Hispanics

Background: The health and health care needs of non-English-speaking Hispanic families with children are poorly understood, in part because they are often excluded from research owing to language barriers. Instruments that are valid in English and Spanish are necessary to accurately evaluate the magnitude of asthma prevalence and morbidity among Hispanics. Objective: To establish the sensitivity and specificity of the English and Spanish versions of the asthma portion of the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen Plus (BPAS+) in a low-income Hispanic population. Methods: The validation sample consisted of 145 children whose parents completed the BPAS+ in Spanish and 78 whose parents completed it in English. Bilingual clinicians conducted the examinations on which the clinical assessments were based. We compared the BPAS+ results with the clinical assessment findings to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the BPAS+ among Hispanics in terms of identifying children who warrant further medical evaluation for asthma. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of the asthma portion of the Spanish BPAS+ were 74% and 86%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the asthma portion of the English BPAS+ were 61% and 83%, respectively. Conclusions: The asthma portion of the BPAS+ , a valid screen for identifying children who are in need of further evaluation for potentially undiagnosed asthma, is valid for low-income Hispanics in Spanish and English. As the Hispanic population continues to grow, it is imperative that researchers have English and Spanish instruments that are valid for this population.