Prospective Analysis Comparing the Asthma Control Test (ACT) to the New Subjective Asthma Questionnaire (SAQ-1) for Assessing Asthma Control

Background Asthma affects millions of patients worldwide. The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) emphasizes the need for individualized treatment based on symptoms and risk of exacerbations. The Asthma Control Test (ACT) is a well-validated tool and considered standard-of-care for assessing asthma control. Our research question was to determine the correlation of the new Subjective Asthma Questionnaire-1 (SAQ-1) with the established ACT for assessing asthma control, and what are the associations of demographic and clinical variables with both scoring systems. Study Design and Methods In this prospective observational study, ACT, SAQ-1 scores, demographic and clinical characteristics were obtained during the pulmonary outpatient clinic visits of 115 adult patients with mild, moderate, and severe persistent asthma. Results Our research observed correlations between the ACT and SAQ-1 scores. Asthma severity was negatively associated with both ACT and SAQ-1 scores, while race had a weaker negative association with both scores. The SAQ-1 was found to have excellent sensitivity and specificity for assessing not well-controlled asthma. Conclusion The SAQ-1 is a valid and simple alternative to the ACT for assessing asthma control and may improve patient compliance and enable more frequent assessments.