title: Asthma control and management changes in Japan: questionnaire survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the advances of asthma management and the accompanying improved asthma control, many problems related to asthma management still remain. The Niigata Asthma Treatment Study Group has been regularly collecting information via surveys since 1998 using a questionnaire, on problems related to asthma management; various studies on asthma management have been reported using data from the questionnaire.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in asthma control and management for every two-year period using the data from 1998 to 2008; future problems requiring resolution were extracted and discussed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of cases surveyed each year was about 3,000 (2,593-3,347 cases). The changes in the data from 1998 to 2008, including asthma attacks and symptoms rate, indicated the improvement of asthma control with the spread of medication according to the guidelines; of particular note, there was a 24.1% increase in the usage rate of inhaled corticosteroids during the study period. From 2002 to 2008, however, some asthmatic conditions seemed to show no improvement with regards to asthma control related to the rates of changes in peak flow meter use, leukotriene receptor antagonist use and oral sustained-released theophylline use. Moreover, there was no decrease in the occurrence of emergency episodes related to asthma deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the actual clinical setting, asthma control seems to be progressing well with the appropriate changes of medication according to the guidelines, and in part due to inhaled corticosteroid use. However, there were two problems which need to be addressed: 1) no improvement in some asthmatic conditions and 2) the occurrence of emergency episodes related to asthma deaths. In the future, it will be necessary to manage asthma in view of these points.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine, Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital, Japan. htaka@med.niigata-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koya
authors.forename: Takuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakagami
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toyabe
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kagamu
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: Fumitake
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gejyo
authors.forename: Ichiei
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Narita
authors.forename: Eiichi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D019468:Disease Management; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000150:complications; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents