Background: The correct control of asthmatic children and teenagers substantially improves their quality of life. The use of the peak flowmeter permits to monitor the pulmonary function and to control this disease.
Objective: To gather information about the use of the peak flowmeter in asthmatic children and teenagers.
Material and methods: It was a descriptive and observational study done in 81 asthmatic children and teenagers who attended a summer camp. They answered a questionnaire in order to know their knowledge about the peak flowmeter's use.
Results: The age of the studied group ranked from five to 18 years (54.3% between five to 10 years). Out of the 81 children and teenagers, 64 knew about the peak flow. In spite of the knowledge, only 38 (46.9%) had used it in at least one occasion and 20 (24.7%) in an ambulatory manner (16 used it when they feel bad, and four, every day). Only nine of these 20 children knew the correct way to use it, to interpret the results and what the normal peak flow was. All of these children and teenagers were under medical control. Allergists were attending 66.7%. Independently of the specialty of their doctors, the average of the children that didn't use the peak flowmeter in their control of asthma was always over than 50%.
Conclusions: In spite that all these children and teenagers were on medical care, the knowledge of the peak flowmeter usage was not enough to take advantage.