Feasibility of the Allergy Questionnaire for Athletes (AQUA©) in pediatric age

Abstract

A burden of respiratory and allergic symptoms up to almost 60% has been observed in young and adult athletes, influencing physical performances1 . The Allergy Questionnaire for Athletes (AQUA©) is a validated screening tool for the prediction of the atopic status in adult athletes2 ; it was recently tested in Belgian young elite athletes (12-14 years old)3 , but its actual feasibility and suitability for children and adolescent was not evaluated. Indeed, there is evidence that children are prone to employ "satisficing" response strategies, answering every question positively/negatively, or simply not answering4 . Therefore, the present cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess feasibility of a linguistically simplified version of AQUA© in children and adolescents, stratifying by sport practice and focusing on the core items (12 questions, 5 to 14 and 16 to 17) related to allergy. The study was approved by the local Institutional Ethics Committee (Palermo 1, Italy, Approval Number: 07/2017), and registered on the central registration system ClinicalTrials. gov (ID: NCT03286894). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.