Asthma
New treatment standards have been published, and many improved medications for asthma are now available to meet this goal. But many people with moderate to severe cases of asthma still find it difficult to control the illness -- even with good health insurance and regular healthcare, as this study from Wake Forest University School of Medicine reveals.
• Patients with moderate to severe asthma who said their disease was not controlled: 55%
• Patients with uncontrolled asthma who said they’d had an attack during which they feared for their life: 54%
• Patients with controlled asthma who said they’d had an attack during which they feared for their life: 37.9%
• Patients with uncontrolled asthma who said they had received a personalized asthma action plan from their physician: 34.9%.
• Patients with controlled asthma who said they had received a personalized asthma action plan from their physician: 26.4%.
• Patients with uncontrolled asthma who had healthcare coverage: 85.8%
• Patients with controlled asthma who had healthcare coverage: 88%
• Patients with uncontrolled asthma who visited their physician two or more times in the last year for their asthma: 84.6%
• Patients with controlled asthma who visited their physician two or more times in the last year for their asthma: 60.6%
• Patients with uncontrolled asthma who visited their physician seven or more times in the past year for their asthma: 13.3%
• Patients with controlled asthma who visited their physician seven or more times in the past year for their asthma: 4.4%
• Patients with uncontrolled asthma who report taking their asthma medications more frequently than prescribed: 56.6%
• Patients with controlled asthma who report taking their asthma medications more frequently than prescribed: 29.6%
• Patients with uncontrolled asthma who missed three or more days or work or school in the last year due to asthma: 36%
• Patients with controlled asthma who missed three or more days or work or school in the last year due to asthma: 9.9%
Source: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, May 30, 2007. Stephen P. Peters, M.D., Ph.D., Center for Human Genomics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Survey of 1,812 patients with moderate to severe asthma.
-- Shari Roan
