Prevalence of asthma control in adult patients in Kirkuk City

Abstract

Abstract Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases that is widely prevalent worldwide affecting different age groups. Many factors are involved in the pathogenesis and there are many trigger factors that can precipitate acute attacks or interfere with the disease control. Disease controlling inhalers are required to be taken for long duration to control the symptoms, and this is a real problem with the patients to maintain remission and prevent relapse or deterioration in the lung function. Objective: The aim of this study is to know the prevalence of asthma control in adult patients in Kirkuk city. Materials and Methods: Two thousand and five hundreds asthmatic patients were collected from Azadi teaching hospital and private clinics at Kirkuk city during the period from January 2017 to October 2022 (1775 were men and 725 were women. A proper history was taken from the patients regarding the duration of the asthma, treatment used and compliance, smoking, and presence or absence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The body mass index (BMI) of the patients was also measured. Regarding the asthma control during the past 4 weeks, this was assessed by using the asthma control test. Results: From the total 2500 asthmatic patients: 2280 (91.2%) were not well-controlled, 220 (8.8%) at least well-controlled, 1590 (63.9%) of patients were on treatment, 1370 (86%) of those on treatment were not well-controlled, and 220 (14%) were at least well-controlled. Obesity, smoking, passive smoking GERD, and non-adherence to inhalers are all associated with poorly controlled asthma. Conclusion: The study shows that most of the asthmatic patients with uncontrolled smoking exposure, GERD, obesity, and non-adherence to controlling inhalers were significantly associated factors. Most of the patients were not on regular controlling inhaler therapy. Rejection of the diagnosis, cost, and technique were all causes for the non-adherence to disease-controlling inhalers.