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Asthma knowledge remains poor among rising patient numbers in Zambia

Misconceptions remain in Zambia regarding management of asthma as the number of asthma patients grow, according to a recent cross-sectional survey.

“Knowledge about asthma is poor among Zambians and misconceptions are prevalent,” Emilia Jumbe Marsden, MD, of Pendleton Family Practice in Lusaka, Zambia, and colleagues wrote.

Jumbe Marsden and colleagues evaluated 1,540 participants (mean age, 30.7 years; 65% women) of whom 7.6% (n = 116) had received a physician diagnosis of asthma or were taking asthma medication. Seventy-four percent of the patients lived in low-cost housing.

The researchers found symptoms such as wheezing (88%) and wakeful chest tightness (85%), shortness of breath (85%) or coughing (67%) were most common among the patients, according to the abstract. The most common treatments for asthma were oral short-acting beta agonists at 59%, inhaled short-acting beta agonists at 30.2% and antibiotics at 29.8%.

More than half of the patients (57.6%) believed people with asthma cannot exercise or play hard, 54.7% believed hospitalizations for asthma were not preventable, 54.7% believed symptoms of asthma were preventable with the right medication and 37% believed inhalers were addictive. Further, the researchers noted that 46% of asthma patients believed oral tablets were more effective than inhalers at treating asthma compared with 30% of people without asthma.

“Strategies are needed to increase education and awareness about the disease in order to improve disease management, reduce stigmatization and work towards decreasing the societal burden of disease in Zambia,” Jumbe Marsden and colleagues wrote. – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.