title: Effect of age on asthma control: results from the National Asthma Survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  two million US citizens older than 65 years have asthma, but little is known about asthma control in this population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to compared short- and long-term asthma control in elderly (≥ 65 years old) and young adult (18-64 years old) populations from the National Asthma Survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  data from the National Asthma Survey (sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) were analyzed. Demographic variables, health insurance status, smoking status, indoor allergen exposure, and asthma education were compared between the young adult and elderly populations. Asthma control was examined based on short-term measures (recent oral corticosteroid bursts or symptoms) and long-term measures (asthma attacks, urgent care visits, hospitalizations, and activity limitation in the previous year).
  
  
  RESULTS
  a total of 2,557 young and 398 elderly asthmatic patients were included. Elderly patients had a lower income, were less educated, were more obese, were more insured, had less indoor exposure, and were more likely to be former smokers. They were less educated about asthma attack interventions and asthma action plans (P < .05 for both). On multivariate analysis, elderly patients had worse control of asthma based on short-term measures (daytime symptoms in the previous month [odds ratio (OR), 1.73; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.25-2.35] and any short-term measure [OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.11-1.97]) and long-term measures (activity limitation in the previous year [OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.12-2.01]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  elderly asthmatic patients have worse short- and long-term asthma control compared with the young adult population. Further studies are needed to elucidate whether these findings are due to pathophysiologic differences and whether tailored education or other novel strategies can provide better asthma control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan48201, USA. neetutalreja@gmail.com
authors.forename: Neetu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Talreja
authors.forename: Alan P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Baptist
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult