Asthma control assessment using asthma control test among patients attending 5 tertiary care hospitals in Saudi Arabia.
OBJECTIVE
Evaluation of asthma control using the Asthma Control Test (ACT).


METHODS
The ACT was used to assess asthma control among patients with bronchial asthma visiting pulmonary clinics in 5 major tertiary care hospitals in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Each hospital had a target of 300 patients to recruit over the period of the study from the 1st September to 30th November 2006.


RESULTS
The total number of patients studied was 1,060 patients. Males constituted 442 (42%) and females constituted 618 (58%), the median age was 38.56 years (range 15-75). One third of patients had no formal education. The ACT score revealed uncontrolled asthma in 677 (64%), well-controlled asthma in 328 (31%), and complete controlled in 55 (5%). There are no significant correlations between the age below 40 and above 40 years and level of asthma control (p=0.12). However, the younger age group less than 20 had better control of asthma in comparison with older patients (p=0.0001). There was a significant correlation between level of asthma control and gender, males (44%) had better asthma control than females (30%) (p=0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Control of bronchial asthma is still a major concern in our population. Further studies are needed to explore the factors leading to poor asthma control.
Al-Jahdali
Hamdan H
HH
Pulmonary Division of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. jahdali@yahoo.com
Al-Hajjaj
Mohamed S
MS
Alanezi
Mohammed O
MO
Zeitoni
Mohamed O
MO
Al-Tasan
Turki H
TH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology