Are your asthma patients’ symptoms really controlled?
Seeing the full picture?
The hidden impact of asthma on patients’ everyday life
How well‐controlled is asthma in your patients? Emerging evidence suggests that people may not always report symptoms to their physician, perhaps because they have learned to live with them. What is happening beneath the surface? Here, we examine the everyday experiences of asthma patients and explore how to uncover the disruption it can cause to their activities, social life and emotional wellbeing.
Asthma is widespread. The WHO estimates that there are 235 million asthma sufferers worldwide.1Prevalence of diagnosed asthma varies widely between countries, ranging from 1% of the population in Vietnam to 21% in Australia.2It can be fatal: national mortality rates vary widely, but more than 80% of deaths occur in lower and middle‐income countries.3The socioeconomic impact is substantial: direct healthcare costs (including therapies, consultations and hospitalisations) are high and increase when control of asthma is suboptimal:4

In addition to these economic consequences, asthma patients also pay a personal price: the physical and emotional effects the condition has on their everyday lives.5
References
- World Health Organisation. Asthma fact sheet no 307, November 2013. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs307/en/ (Last accessed: April 2019).
- To T et al. Global asthma prevalence in adults: findings from the cross‐sectional world health survey. BMC Public Health 2012;12:204.
- World Health Organisation. Asthma: what is asthma?, 2016. Available at: http://www.who.int/respiratory/asthma/en/ (Last accessed: April 2019).
- Chapman KR et al. Suboptimal asthma control: prevalence, detection and consequences in general practice. Eur Respir J 2008;31:320–325.
- Gelfand EW. The impact of asthma on the patient, the family, and society. Adv Stud Med 2008;8(3):57–63.
- Accordini S et al. The cost of persistent asthma in Europe: an international population‐based study in adults. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2013;160:93–101.
- Price D et al. Asthma control and management in 8,000 European patients: the Recognise Asthma and Link to Symptoms and Experience (REALISE) survey. Prim Care Respir Med 2014;14: 14009; doi:10.1038/npjpcrm.2014.9.
- Holgate ST et al. Asthma out of control? A structured review of recent patient surveys. BMC Pulm Med 2006;6(Suppl 1):S2; doi:10.1186/1471‐2466‐6‐S1‐S2.
- Malonne H et al. Impact of montelukast on symptoms in mild‐to‐moderate persistent asthma and exercise‐induced asthma: results of the ASTHMA survey. Curr Med Res Opin 2002;18:512–519.
- Rabe KF et al. Clinical management of asthma in 1999: the Asthma Insights and Reality in Europe (AIRE) study. Eur Respir J 2000; 16:802–807.
- Antonicelli L et al. Asthma severity and medical resource utilisation. Eur Respir J 2004;23:723–729.
- Ställberg B et al. Living with asthma in Sweden – the ALMA study. Respir Med 2003;97:835–843.
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