Nine out of 10 people with asthma mistakenly believe their condition is
under control, a meeting of the British Thoracic Society heard in December.
The study of 517 people, sponsored by pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, found
91 per centof patients believe their asthma is under control when in fact it
was not.
This meant there was an unacceptably high level of uncontrolled asthma in
the community.
Two thirds of those questioned – 66 per cent – said they experienced
symptoms two to three times a week, while 41 per cent had symptoms every day.
Global guidelines recommend that asthma patients whose condition is managed
and treated appropriately should have minimal or no symptoms and should only
experience occasional asthma episodes.
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Initially, 58 per cent of patients said they were very satisfied with their
asthma care, but this fell to 33 per cent when they were shown the global
guidelines.
Glasgow GP Dr John Haughney, chairman of the General Practice Airways Group
and co-leader of the research, said: "People with asthma appear to have
very low expectations of how well they can be and do not realise that they
could be better. They are putting up with symptoms that they should not be
experiencing."
