Prospective and multi-center study on the status of asthma management in reality

Abstract

Objective Previous studies on bronchial asthma (asthma) status with retrospective cross-sectional survey had limitations.To provide the evidence for the improvement of prevention and treatment of asthma,the present prospective study investigated the current status of asthma treatment and control in Chongqing.Methods Using a uniform questionnaire,the six-month,prospective,multicenter and non-interventional study on asthma control,medication,and economic burden was carried out.We surveyed the 184 asthmatic out-patients in nine teaching hospitals and urban-level hospital of Chongqing.Results Severe asthmatic patients accounted for 62.0％.Asthma control in the high proportion of patients was poor,and the patients with asthma control test (ACT) score ＜20 accounted for 82.6％.Only 29.6％ of patients used mainly inhaled corticosteroid.The percentage of lost to follow in the six months was 34.8％.Compared with the baseline,the level of asthma control improved significantly (P ＜0.001),asthma exacerbations significantly reduced (P ＜0.001),and average medical costs had a 33.9％ reduction.Conclusions In Chongqing,the current status of asthma control was poor and the percentage of patients with standardized treatment was very low.After the standardized treatment and management,the level of asthma control significantly improved,acute exacerbation rates and medication costs significantly reduced.However,about 1/3 of the patients rejected to accept the doctor's follow-up.Improving asthma management needs more effort. Key words: Asthma; Prospective study; The current status of asthma treatment