Diagnostic accuracy study assessing the ability of paediatric asthma scores to predict admission following initial emergency department bronchodilator therapy: a Clinical Asthma Scoring systems in Paediatric Emergency (CASPER) study

The authors aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of various paediatric asthma scores in predicting hospital admission after initial bronchodilator therapy in children aged 2-18 years. The study found that none of the ten asthma scores assessed achieved the desired area under the receiver operating curve (AUC ROC) of ≥0.80, indicating limited effectiveness in discriminating between admitted and discharged patients. Additionally, no score provided a satisfactory balance between sensitivity and specificity, as defined by a Youden Index of ≥50%.