Asthma control in the Portuguese National Asthma Survey.
BACKGROUND
We aimed (1) to measure asthma control using a structure-questionnaire and patient self-perception of asthma-control in the Portuguese National Asthma Survey (INAsma) and (2) to study the relationship between asthma control and asthma-related quality of life.


METHODS
We analyze data of asthma patients from a cross-sectional, nationwide telephone interview study - INAsma. Controlled asthma was defined as CARAT global score >24 or CARAT lower airways score ≥16. Mini-AQLQ was used to measure quality of life.


RESULTS
Two hundred and seven (56.9% [95%CI: 51.8-62.0]) of the 364 patients had controlled asthma. Most patients with non-controlled asthma (88%) perceived their disease as controlled. Patients with controlled asthma presented higher mini-AQLQ scores (median, P25-P75; 6.6, 6.0-6.9) than those with non-controlled asthma (4.9, 3.7-5.7) (p<0.001) and a significant positive correlation between CARAT and mini-AQLQ scores was observed (r=0.706; p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
More than half of the Portuguese patients presented controlled asthma and showed significantly better asthma-related quality of life. Almost 9 out of 10 patients with non-controlled disease have poor perception of their asthma control, which may hinder them from seeking better asthma control.
Center for Research in Health Technologies and Information Systems - CINTESIS, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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Sá-Sousa
Center for Research in Health Technologies and Information Systems - CINTESIS, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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Amaral
Allergy and Clinical Immunology Department, Hospital CUF-Descobertas, Lisboa, Portugal; Sociedade Portuguesa de Alergologia e Imunologia Clínica, Lisbon, Portugal.
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Morais-Almeida
Immunology Department, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Health Information and Decision Sciences Department - CIDES, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Allergy Unit, Instituto CUF Porto e Hospital CUF Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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Araújo
Center for Research in Health Technologies and Information Systems - CINTESIS, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Health Information and Decision Sciences Department - CIDES, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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Azevedo
Allergy and Clinical Immunology Department, Hospital CUF-Descobertas, Lisboa, Portugal; Comissão de Acompanhamento do Programa Nacional de Controlo da Asma, Lisbon, Portugal.
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A
Bugalho-Almeida
Hôpital Arnaud de Villeneuve, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Montpellier, Montpellier, France; Centre de recherche en Epidémiologie et Santé des Populations - CESP Inserm U1018, Villejuif, France.
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J
Bousquet
Center for Research in Health Technologies and Information Systems - CINTESIS, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Sociedade Portuguesa de Alergologia e Imunologia Clínica, Lisbon, Portugal; Health Information and Decision Sciences Department - CIDES, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Allergy Unit, Instituto CUF Porto e Hospital CUF Porto, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: jfonseca@med.up.pt.
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JA
Fonseca
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Asthma; Control perception; Cross-sectional studies; Disease management; Quality of life