Evaluation of diagnostic criteria for severe asthma described in a public health directive regulating the free distribution of medications for the maintenance treatment of asthma.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the capacity of the criteria described in Complementary Directive SAS/MS 12, issued on November 12, 2002, to identify patients with severe asthma, describing and comparing clinical, functional and treatment data of such patients.


METHODS
This was a nested case-control study using a structured database for adult asthma outpatients. We defined cases as asthma patients who met the inclusion criteria described in the directive, defining controls as those who did not. We collected and compared data related to the following: demographic characteristics; history of asthma; medications in use; comorbidities; history of tobacco use; number of exacerbations within the last 12 months, asthma-related hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions within the last 12 months; spirometry; and sputum cytology.


RESULTS
The case and control groups consisted of 29 and 31 patients, respectively. The number of asthma exacerbations and emergence room visits within the last 12 months, as well as the number of patients that received at least one pulse of oral corticosteroids, was significantly higher in the case group than in the control group. In addition, prebronchodilator FVC was lower among the cases than among the controls. Furthermore, cytology revealed that eosinophil counts were significantly higher in the induced sputum of cases than in that of controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The criteria described in the directive are suited to stratifying patients with severe asthma.
Santos
Maria Amélia Carvalho da Silva
MA
Postgraduate Program in Pulmonology, Pulmonology Section of the Department of Internal Medicine, Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Unifesp, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Fernandes
Ana Luisa Godoy
AL
Amorim
Mara Marta
MM
Lima
Patrícia Bueno
PB
Faresin
Sonia Maria
SM
Santoro
Ilka Lopes
IL
D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D001938:Brazil; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019819:Budesonide / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004804:Eosinophils; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000592:standards*; D018579:Patient Selection; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013147:Spirometry; D013183:Sputum / Q000166:cytology
D001993:Bronchodilator Agents; D019819:Budesonide