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(Download fact sheet as Word document)
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Highlight the need for, and contribute to, a better understanding of asthma and its management
- Motivate physicians to ensure their patients are better informed on how to effectively use their medications to achieve asthma control and minimise the risk of asthma attack
- Motivate patients to work with their physicians to achieve better day-to-day symptom control with minimal impairment of daily life
SURVEY FINDINGS: COMBINED RESULTS
Asthma medication
- 53% of the patients surveyed claimed to be prescribed a controller medication, i.e. having persistent or regular asthma according to the Global Initiative for Asthma's (GINA) Guideline1 definitions
Of the patients who said they were prescribed a controller medication, 42% reported using their reliever more frequently than guidelines recommend1
- Of all the patients surveyed, 24% reported using their reliever inhaler more than 3 times during the last week - an indication of poor asthma control according to GINA guidance1
68% felt their asthma is preventing them from achieving what they want from life, indicating sub-optimal asthma control
- 87% reported that asthma restricts their ability to take part in physical activities or exercise, with 37% of these patients indicated they often or always felt restricted in performing physical activities
- 70% of all respondents said their asthma interrupts their sleep
- 64% of all patients reported that asthma restricts their ability to participate in leisure activities
Patients' perceptions of their asthma
Patients' biggest worry in relation to their asthma is the effect it may have on their future health (34%) and the risk of having an asthma attack (31%)
- The large proportion of those people surveyed claimed that their asthma was occasional, for example only present when they caught a cold or when exercising (49%), this is contradicted by many claiming that asthma limits their life potential and their underlying fears of their future health
- 61% of the patients reported being prescribed a controller medication would not describe their asthma as chronic, i.e. always there in the background
Patients' understanding of what happens within the lungs to cause asthma symptoms
Only 24% of the patients surveyed could correctly identify airway inflammation as an underlying cause of asthma symptoms
- 37% of the patients wrongly believe that inhaled particles block their airways causing asthma symptoms and a further 24% admitted that they don't know the cause of their symptoms
- 35% of patients correctly knew that the muscles around the airways tighten
Only 33% of the patients that reported to be prescribed some kind of anti-inflammatory controller medication knew that the airways become inflamed
Reasons for non-compliance
- 34% of the patients surveyed claimed not to take their medication as prescribed by their physician
The main reasons patients gave for not taking their asthma medication as prescribed were that they didn't view their asthma as serious enough to take medication regularly (46%) and that they tended to stop using their controller medication when they were feeling well (44%)
- Additional reasons stated by patients, for not taking their medication, included, preferring not to use too many inhalers (23%) or that sometimes they simply forgot (23%)
Interestingly, the patients who correctly identified airway inflammation as an underlying cause of asthma symptoms, reported significantly (p<0.01) better compliance to their medication than patients lacking this knowledge
Information that patients consider important and the sources
When patients were asked about information they would like to receive in order to help them to manage their asthma better, the majority said they would like guidance on:
- the different factors or triggers that can cause their asthma to worsen (49%)
- how to prevent an asthma attack (47%), and
- guidance on what to do in the event of an attack (45%)
- Other information that respondents said they would like to receive included how to manage their asthma on a day to day basis (40%), and the causes of asthma (40%)
Family doctors were rated as the most useful source of information to find out information about asthma (38%) followed by specialist doctors (31%) and the internet (17%) The patients who claimed to receive the most useful information about their asthma from a nurse or doctor, were seen to be significantly (p<0.01) more compliant with their medication
CONCLUSIONS
- Sub-optimal asthma control is still reported by the majority of asthma patients, with two out of three people with asthma feeling that their asthma is preventing them from achieving what they want from life
- A significant proportion of patients do not perceive their asthma as ongoing, and see no reason to treat the disease when they feel well. Improved patient education around the underlying causes of the disease may improve compliance
- Patients' biggest worry in relation to their asthma is the effect it may have on their future health and the risk of having an asthma attack; practical advice on how to avoid an asthma attack and what to do in the event of an attack is key information requested by patients.
There is a need for patients to be given information relating to identifying factors that cause asthma to worsen, how to prevent and treat asthma attacks and personal asthma goals to encourage patients to stick to their management strategy
FURTHER INFORMATION
About the respondents:
- 1800 adult patients (=18 years), mean age 33 years
- 100% reported that they had been diagnosed with asthma
- 100% reported being prescribed an asthma medication
- 53% reported being prescribed an anti-inflammatory controller medication
- 34% were male
- 33% were smokers
- 62% were working and 18% students
- 42% had children
About the survey:
- The survey was conducted in 9 countries: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the UK
- A Web-based survey was completed by patients 18 years of age or older, recruited from market research specialists Synovate's Omnibus Healthcare Panel in each country
- 200 patients per country who reported being diagnosed with asthma were asked to complete a 10-minute online questionnaire
SURVEY FINDINGS: COUNTRY SPECIFIC BREAKDOWN
Sub-optimal asthma control and its impact on patients' lives
- Of all patients who reported that asthma restricts their ability to participate in leisure activities, the respondents in Germany that made this claim was significantly higher (81%) that the other countries (combined 64%)
- Brazilian patients were more likely to report that asthma interrupts their sleep (91%), has an effect on their social commitments (64%), and intimacy with their partner (51%) as compared to patients in the other countries surveyed
- A greater number of patients in Korea claimed that asthma effects their parenting (64%) compared with the other countries surveyed
- Patients in both Brazil (55%) and Korea (51%) were also more likely to claim that asthma effects their attendance at work
- Patients surveyed in the UK and Australia, reported that the effect asthma has on their current health was their greatest disease related concern (20% and 29% respectively) - significantly higher than the other countries surveyed
- Spanish patients currently prescribed anti-inflammatory controller medication were more likely to know about airway inflammation (51%), compared to patients in the other countries surveyed, particularly Korea (21%) and Sweden (27%)
- Patients in Korea reported particularly poor compliance to their treatment in comparison to the other countries surveyed, with 26% patients reporting that they 'never' use their medication as prescribed by their physician
- The reasons patients gave for non-compliance to their asthma medication were fairly consistent across all countries except for Brazil, where one of the main reasons for non-compliance was not wishing to use too many inhalers (39%)
- In Germany, Spain and Brazil, patients rely more on specialist doctors for delivery of asthma information (48%, 48% and 50% respectively), than any other source
- In the UK, asthma nurses (19%) are perceived to be more useful in terms of information giving than specialist doctors (6%)
- In Korea and Sweden, the internet is rated equally as useful in terms of providing information as a family doctor or specialist doctor
- The majority of patients that reported using the internet as a source of asthma information were = 30 years
- Of all the countries surveyed, an older group of patients claim to use the internet as a source of information in Australia (mean age: 43) and the UK (mean age: 39)
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The Spring into Action campaign is a global initiative to help raise awareness of the need for improved asthma management and control. By surveying a patient population of 1,800 asthma patients from the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Korea, Australia, and Brazil, the campaign hopes to motivate patients and physicians around the world to work together to recognise sub-optimal asthma management and achieve better day-to-day symptom control with minimal impairment in daily life as well as to encourage policy makers to spring into action.
The survey has been developed jointly by the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG), the World Organisation of Family Doctors (Wonca) and AstraZeneca. The omnibus survey was conducted by Synovate Healthcare and financed by AstraZeneca. The involved parties have had full access to the survey data and contributed to the interpretation of the results and have agreed on the conclusions.
IPCRG is a charitable organisation that provides an international umbrella for national primary care respiratory interest groups. IPCRG was founded in 2000 and currently counts 36 member countries from around the world. The office of IPCRG is situated in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.
For further information, please visit: www.theipcrg.org
Wonca is a non-governmental organisation with 119 member organisations in 99 countries representing about 80% of the world's total population. Wonka was started in 1972 and today the total membership of family doctors is approximately 250,000. The Wonca World Secretariat is located in Singapore.
For further information, please visit: www.globalfamilydoctor.com.
AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, with a broad range of medicines designed to fight disease in important areas of healthcare: gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, cancer and infection. Backed by strong science AstraZeneca is committed to the delivery of a flow of new medicines that bring benefit for patients and add value for wider society.
For further information, please visit: www.astrazeneca.com.
Contact details
Emily James / Georgie Griffith
Cohn & Wolfe
Telephone: +44 20 7331 2336 / 5369
Email: emily_james@uk.cohnwolfe.com and georgie_griffith@uk.cohnwolfe.com
Reference
1. Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention, Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2007. Available from: http://www.ginasthma.org.
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