adherence to treatment in severe asthma predicting factors in a program for asthma control in brazil坚持治疗严重哮喘哮喘控制程序预测因素在巴西.pdfVIP

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Adherence to Treatment in Severe Asthma Predicting Factors in a Program for Asthma Control in Brazil Adelmir Souza-Machado, MD, Pablo Moura Santos, MSc, and Álvaro A. Cruz, MD sthma is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by Background: In Brazil, like many other low- to middle-income coun- Asymptoms such as dyspnea, chest tightness, wheezing, tries, most asthmatic patients cannot afford the medication necessary to and cough. The goals of asthma treatment are (1) control of prevent exacerbations. The reference clinic of the Programme for the clinical manifestations and (2) improvement in lung Asthma Control in Bahia (ProAR; Salvador-Bahia) offers free medical function.1 care, pharmaceutical assistance (inhaled medication) and patient edu- There is evidence that reducing inflammation with cation. The reference clinic is accessible to all the population of therapy leads to clinical control. Inhaled corticosteroids are Salvador and the Programme is targeted on severe asthma. the most effective controller medications currently available.1 Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate adherence However, asthma management and symptoms’ control are to inhaled medication in severe asthmatics enrolled in ProAR. not so easy to obtain. According to the World Health Orga- Methods: A sub-group of 160 consecutive severe asthmatics en- nization, the definition of adherence is “the extent to which rolled in ProAR were followed prospectively for 6 months. All person’s behavior—taking medication, after a diet and exe- patients were assessed