Asthma Control and Medication Reliance Among Asthmatics in a General Practice Setting - A Questionnaire Based Study

Abstract

The main goal of asthma treatment is to obtain and maintain reasonable control of symptoms with current evidence-based protocols. Asthma is one of the chronic diseases, that, if not well controlled, can lead to the development of serious complications involving not only the respiratory, but the cardiovascular system. In this study, we aimed to determine how well intermittent asthma and mild persistent asthma are controlled among patients aged 15 years and above in a general practice setting using Asthma Control Test (ACT) questionnaire. Furthermore, we used a SABA Reliance Questionnaire (SRQ) to understand whether these patients rely heavily on their prescribed short-acting beta agonist (SABA) medication. This is an audit questionnaire-based study conducted in our primary health care setting in New Zealand from February to May 2021. Forty-three physician-diagnosed intermittent asthma and mild persistent asthma patients aged 15 years and above volunteered to take part in this study. They completed two questionnaires - the ACT to assess asthma control and the SRQ to assess patients’ reliance on SABA reliever inhalers. Overall, 43 patients responded; asthma was well-controlled in 23 patients (53.5%), partially controlled in 15 (34.9%), and uncontrolled in five (11.6%). The total of patients who showed a high reliance on SABA was 31 (72.1%). When comparing SABA reliance with asthma control, 23 (53.5%) patients reported well-controlled asthma; however, 13 (56.5%) of these patients showed a high reliance on SABA. Furthermore, 15 (34.9%) of the patients had partially controlled asthma, and 14 (93.3%) of them also relied highly on their SABA inhalers. We concluded that intermittent asthma and mild persistent asthma remains inadequately controlled in general practice, with the majority of patients showing a high reliance on SABA.