Assessment of asthma control in users of oral anti-asthma medications

BACKGROUND: Despite guidelines recommending inhalation therapy as the preferred choice, oral therapy is still widely used in the treatment of asthma in India. However, data about the level of asthma control and healthcare use in patients on oral anti-asthma medications are scarce. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted to assess the level of asthma control and healthcare use in patients taking oral anti-asthma medications. RESULTS: The study population consisted of 381 adults randomly selected from health screening programmes. All subjects were already receiving oral anti-asthma medications; however, up to 72% had not been diagnosed with asthma by their treating doctors prior to the screening programmes. The cohort had a mean age of 48.26 ± 13.83 years (70% males) and mean peak expiratory flow of 245 ± 78.93 mL/sec. The mean Asthma Control Questionnaire 5 (ACQ-5) score was 2.53 ± 1.15, with respectively 33%, 49.3% and 32.6% reporting at least one episode of breathlessness, one emergency doctor visit and one hospitalisation due to asthma or its symptoms in the past year. CONCLUSION: Underdiagnosis and inappropriate management, as indicated by the poor asthma control and increased hospitalisations seen in this study, is probably a key contributor to the increased burden of the disease in India.