Is mild asthma truly mild? The patients’ real-life setting

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Asthma exacerbations and, more rarely, fatal asthma attacks have been reported in mild asthma patients, suggesting poor disease control and awareness of its potential burden. Our study aimed to explore outside the hospital/specialist setting the perspective and disease treatment behavior of patients self-reporting a mild asthma diagnosis.

Methods

Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) technique was used to investigate the identified study population. Questions about diagnosis, symptoms, comorbidities, treatment strategy, ongoing assessments, and quality of life were administered.

Results

Overall, 258 patients were considered for the analysis. As the most relevant results, 22% of them reported severe respiratory symptoms, 52% experienced at least one exacerbation/year, and 7% needed Emergency Room care. Sixty-six percent of the respondents assumed as needing short-acting bronchodilators only. Of note, 22% of patients were using oral steroids (OCS) intermittently and 72% of them considered their quality of life unsatisfying.

Conclusion

Outside the hospital/specialist setting, mild asthma burden is still not negligible and the treatment approach is not correct. In particular, the reported OCS use is disproportionate. Our data suggest that mild asthma, especially when self-assessed might be other than mild, suggesting that efforts to increase disease awareness, improve the disease control limiting the OCS abuse are required.

KEYWORDS:

• Mild asthma
• under-treatment
• patients perception
• oral steroids
• asthma control

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: G Guarnieri, G Senna, M Caminati; Methodology: G Guarnieri, G Senna, M Caminati, A Vianello; Formal Analysis: G Guarnieri, V Batani, M Caminati; Investigation: G Guarnieri, M Caminati, A Dama, V Batani; Data Curation: G Guarnieri, V Batani, M Caminati; Writing: G Guarnieri, G Senna, M Caminati, V Batani; Original Draft Preparation: G Guarnieri, M Caminati, G Senna, V Batani, A Vianello; Writing—Review and Editing: G Guarnieri. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.