COMPARISON BETWEEN WRITTEN AND VIDEO QUES TIONNAIRES FOR ASSESSMENT OF ASTHMA PREVALENCE IN ADOLESCENTS

Written questionnaires are used since more than 40 years in order to e stimate prevalence of asthma. Performance of an international survey o n asthma symptoms prevalence induces problems due to the translation o f a given questionnaire and to socio-cultural differences. These probl ems prevent correct comparisons between countries. In order to reduce these biases, a videoqestionnaire was added to the written questionnai re in the ISAAC study. In France, this has been possible in two region s:Etang-de-Berre and Strasbourg. Symptoms of asthma are more frequent in the Etang-de Bere and this was consistent with the two types of que stionnaires. The degree of concordance between written and video quest ions measured by the kappa coefficient was low. One possible explanati on is the fact that written and video questions do not represent exact ly the same situation. Even if some studies have shown, with the measu rement of bronchial hyperactivity, that the vidoequestionnaire is at l east as effective as the written questionnaire to identify asthma symp toms, there is a need for more adjustment between the two.