Asthma control and quality of life in a real-life setting: a cross-sectional study of adult asthma patients in Japan (ACQUIRE-2)

Abstract

Objective: The level of asthma control in adult asthma patients receiving treatment in clinical practice from allergy and/or respiratory specialists in Japan remains unclear. We conducted the ACQUIRE-2 study (NCT02640742) to evaluate level of asthma control, asthma symptoms, health-related quality of life (HR-QoL), and reliever medication use in this setting. Methods: This observational study was undertaken between December 2015 and June 2016 in 58 medical institutions across Japan. We enrolled outpatients aged ≥20 years diagnosed with asthma for ≥1 year who were being managed by specialists. Criteria to evaluate the level of asthma control were based on modified definitions of the Asthma Prevention and Management Guideline 2015, Japan (JGL 2015) and Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2012. Asthma symptoms, HR-QoL, and reliever medication use were also evaluated. Results: Of 1250 enrolled patients, 1175 were analyzed, 62.9% of whom were women. Mean (± standard deviation) age and duration of asthma were 59.7 ± 14.5 years and 16.9 ± 14.0 years, respectively. Using JGL 2015-based criteria, 24.4%, 69.2%, and 6.5% of patients had well-controlled, insufficiently-controlled, and poorly-controlled asthma, respectively. Using GINA-based criteria, 35.1%, 49.8%, and 15.1% of patients had controlled, partly controlled, and uncontrolled asthma, respectively. Daytime and nighttime asthma symptoms were experienced by 51.5% and 44.9% of patients, respectively. The mean MiniAQLQ score was 5.8 ± 1.0 (7-point scale). Conclusions: Asthma was not well-controlled in the majority of patients in this study. To achieve better asthma control, improvements in symptom monitoring and management may be required.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02640742.

Keywords:

• Observational study
• Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA)
• Japan Asthma Prevention and Management Guideline (JGL 2015)
• Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ-5)
• patient-reported outcomes
• survey

Declaration of interest

MA received funds from Toa Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., and Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., for advisory roles, as well as honoraria from Astellas Pharma Inc., AstraZeneca K.K., GlaxoSmithKline K.K., Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., MSD K.K., and Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd. SH received honoraria from Astellas Pharma Inc., Novartis Pharma K.K., AstraZeneca K.K., Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Teijin Pharma Ltd., Sanofi K.K, Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and MSD K.K. AY and TJ are full-time employees of AstraZeneca K.K. GT received honoraria from AstraZeneca K.K. and Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., and research funding from Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd. MN has no conflicts of interest to declare.

Author contributions

AY and TJ contributed to the study conception and data analysis. TJ contributed to the data acquisition. All authors contributed to the study design, interpretation of data, and reviewing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge Emma Donadieu, MSc, and Keyra Martinez Dunn, MD, of Edanz Medical Writing for medical writing support, which was funded by AstraZeneca K.K., Osaka, Japan. The study was funded by AstraZeneca K.K., Osaka, Japan.