title: Physician-prescribed Asthma Treatment Regimen does not differ Between Smoking and Non-smoking Patients With Asthma in Seoul and Gyunggi province of Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Smoking has detrimental effects on asthma symptom control and response to treatment and is prevalent among asthma patients in South Korea. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of smoking among asthma patients in South Korea and to compare the medication regimens of asthma patients who do and do not smoke.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was conducted from August 2010 to January 2011. Participating physicians (N=25) recorded demographic and clinical data on all asthma patients presenting during the study period (N=2,032), and then recruited a subset of patients (N=500) for the survey such that half were self-reported current smokers. Recruited patients were between the ages of 18 and 60.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among presenting asthma patients, 17.3% were current smokers, 19.2% were former smokers, and 63.5% had never smoked. Within the analyzable study population (N=471), 212 patients reported smoking currently, 79 smoking formerly, and 180 never smoking. Among current and former smokers, 79.7% and 81.0%, respectively, were men, while women represented 80.5% of patients who had never smoked. Agreement was strong between physician-determined smoking status and patient-reported smoking status (κ=0.82; P<0.001). However, asthma medication regimens examined according to GINA treatment steps did not differ by smoking status. In addition, mean quality of life scores and level of asthma control did not differ by smoking status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In South Korea, physicians are well aware of the smoking status of their patients. However, smoking status did not affect the prescribed medication regimens of this population of asthma patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Allergy and Immunology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hae-Sim
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2614-0303
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Pulmonary & Allergy Center, Anyang, Korea.
authors.forename: Ki-Suck
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, SW3 & Biomedical Research Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, London SW3, UK.
authors.forename: Kian Fan
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Global Health Outcomes, Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Felicia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Allen-Ramey
authors.affiliation: Adelphi Real World, Adelphi Mill, Bollington, Cheshire, SK10 5JB, UK.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pollard
authors.affiliation: Adelphi Real World, Adelphi Mill, Bollington, Cheshire, SK10 5JB, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.affiliation: University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB 24, 3FX, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Price
keywords: Asthma; Korea; adverse effects; asthma treatment; smoking