DEVELOPMENT OF A SYMPTOM BASED OUTCOME MEASURE FOR ASTHMA

Measuring symptom specific health outcome is complex, but the methodol ogies now exist to develop measures with the appropriate properties. A s one element of a major programme to develop multidomain health outco me measures for chronic disease, a symptom based measure for asthma ca re has been developed for use in general practice and outpatient depar tments. This article outlines the development process, which used a fr amework recently described in the theoretical literature to show the c onstraints that scientific criteria place on the development of outcom e measures and the means of overcoming such limiting factors. Although substantial effort is required to undertake a rigorous process of dev elopment, useful tools are the result. Two five item, symptom based ou tcome measures for adult asthma are described.