This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Asthma control in US patients considered poor during 2008-2010

Asthma control in the United States was suboptimal from 2008 through 2010, with patients overusing quick-relief inhalers and underusing long-term control medications, according to study results.

Researchers studied the national prevalence of self-reported asthma, medication use trends and patients’ demographic characteristics by analyzing 2008, 2009 and 2010 data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys. Patient-reported medication use determined asthma management and control.

There were 102,767 participants who answered whether they had ever received an asthma diagnosis, with 9,782 (9.5% of the US population, weighted) reporting lifetime asthma and 8,837 (8.6% of the US population, weighted) reporting current asthma. Of the patients with lifetime asthma, 5,005 reported an asthma exacerbation in the past year, and 4,521 reported using a quick-relief inhaler for asthma in the previous 3 months. Among lifetime asthma patients who used a quick-relief inhaler, 14.6% reported using more than three canisters in the prior 3 months.

“Of this group, 60.4% were using daily long-term control medication but still required significant use of quick-control inhalers, whereas 28.4% had never used long-term control medication,” the researchers reported. “Of those who had a recent exacerbation, 29.2% were using daily preventive medication, whereas 53.7% had never used long-term control medication.”

“Improvement of asthma control continues to be a US public health concern,” the researchers concluded. “Patients and health care providers might discuss their perceived benefit from, effectiveness of, and access to long-term control medications.”

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.