Development and validation of a nighttime sleep diary in asthmatic children.

The aim of this study was to derive a shorter version of the asthma diary, 'a nighttime sleep diary' from the traditional asthma diary (original version). The nighttime sleep diary mainly consisted of nighttime awakening that met the criteria of validity and practicality necessary for monitoring clinical control in infants and young children with asthma symptoms. Validation of the diary was performed in a 6-week prospective study of 40 children aged 6 months to 6 years treated with nebulized budesonide inhalation suspension or cromolyn sodium nebulized solution. The nighttime awakening score was significantly and positively associated with the nighttime asthma symptom score and daytime asthma symptom score along with the number of days with a cough. Therefore, the nighttime sleep diary is a simple and useful instrument to monitor day-to-day fluctuations in young children with asthma.