Women, patients with severe asthma, and patients attended by primary care physicians, are at higher risk of suffering from poorly controlled asthma.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this exploratory study was to identify those factors associated with asthma control assessed according to GINA Guidelines.


METHODS
809 (56% female) subjects with asthma were recruited consecutively from both specialist and primary care centres. Asthma control was assessed over a 4-week follow-up period using a composite measure. A multivariate analysis was performed, in which asthma control was included as the dependent variable and several explanatory variables were included as independent variables.


RESULTS
Analysis performed on the whole population rendered gender (p=0.003), the type of physician (p<0.001), and age group (p<0.001), as significant factors associated with asthma control. In adults, gender (p=0.001), asthma severity (p<0.001), and type of physician (p<0.001) were significant, and only asthma severity was significant (p=0.043) in children.


CONCLUSIONS
After model adjustment, we suggest that being female, suffering from more severe asthma, or being attended by a primary care physician, could pose a significantly higher risk of having poorly controlled asthma in adults.
Badiola
Carlos
C
GlaxoSmithKline S.A Medical Department, Tres Cantos, Madrid 28760, Spain. cbadiola@leti.com
Badiella
Llorenc
L
Plaza
Vicente
V
Prieto
Luis
L
Molina
Jesús
J
Villa
José Ramón
JR
Cimas
Enrique
E
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires