Do Asthma Patients Prefer to Monitor Symptoms or Peak Flow?

Abstract

We administered a 65-item survey to patients to assess preference of symptoms and peak flow to detect worsening asthma and to collect information about asthma triggers, asthma knowledge sources, and barriers to peak flow meter use. It was completed by 139 asthma patients. Survey responses were comparable for adult and pediatric patients and for those who owned peak flow meters and those who did not. But patients who owned a peak flow meter reported more severe asthma than others. On average, the patients preferred symptoms to peak flow for assessing worsening asthma. It is likely that the preference for symptom over peak flow monitoring was effort related: Patients preferred symptom monitoring because it was the easier of the two to conduct.