Chest ACCP Career Connection
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Guest Access | Sign In via User Name/Password
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Free
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Free
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Article Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gaga, M.
Right arrow Articles by Konstantopoulos, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gaga, M.
Right arrow Articles by Konstantopoulos, S.
(Chest. 2005;128:78-84.)
© 2005 American College of Chest Physicians

Control of Asthma Under Specialist Care*

Is It Achieved?

Mina Gaga, MD; Niki Papageorgiou, MD; Eleftherios Zervas, MD; Dimitris Gioulekas, MD and Stavros Konstantopoulos, MD

* From the Respiratory Medicine Department (Drs. Gaga and Zervas), Athens University, Athens; Fifth Respiratory Department (Dr. Papageorgiou), Sotiria Hospital, Athens; Respiratory Medicine Department (Dr. Gioulekas), University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki; and Respiratory Medicine Department (Dr. Konstantopoulos), University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.

Correspondence to: Mina Gaga, MD, Respiratory Medicine Department, Athens University, Sotiria Hospital, 152 Mesogion Ave, Athens 11527, Greece; e-mail: mgaga{at}med.uoa.gr

Background: The goal of asthma treatment is control of asthma and good quality of life for asthmatic patients; however, many asthmatic patients experience symptoms and limitations.

Study objectives: To examine treatment outcome in asthmatic patients under specialist care.

Design: Multicenter, cross-sectional study.

Setting: Four large outpatient asthma clinics in teaching hospitals in three Greek cities.

Patients: Three hundred seventy-eight randomly selected patients with mild or moderate asthma (265 female patients; mean age, 42.3 years).

Interventions: None.

Measurements and results: Patients completed a questionnaire structured with eight domains covering patient characteristics, drug use at baseline and during exacerbations, regular follow-up, emergency visits, asthma control, symptoms, and limitations. Results show that the majority of patients have symptoms and limitations in their physical and social activities and have frequent exacerbations, while > 40% of patients think that their asthma is not well controlled. Most of our patients receive preventive medication (primarily inhaled corticosteroids, but less so long-acting ß2-agonists [LABAs] and leukotriene antagonists), increase their use of medication in case of exacerbations and have regular follow-up. However, the report shows that 48% of patients tried to reduce their medication dose, a fact implying that compliance is not always good.

Conclusions: These data indicate that the goals of asthma treatment are not achieved, even under specialist care. Perhaps more effort should be invested in patient education while an increase in the use of LABAs and leukotriene antagonists, medications that have been shown to prevent exercise-induced bronchoconstriction and improve quality of life, may help better asthma outcomes.

Key Words: asthma • clinical characteristics • control • exacerbations • medication • symptoms






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2005 by the American College of Chest Physicians.