PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Monica Fletcher AU - William Dunlop AU - Ashok Jha AU - Louise Heron AU - Thys Van der Molen AU - David Price TI - Burden of asthma on resource and productivity in 6 European countries DP - 2014 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - P3816 VI - 44 IP - Suppl 58 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3816.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3816.full SO - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44 AB - Aims and objectivesAsthma affects 30 million people in Western Europe, leading to substantial burden on healthcare systems and economies. The REALISE™ survey was a large European survey across 11 countries assessing patient attitudes and behaviours towards their asthma. The objective was to understand the burden of asthma, examining resource use and absenteeism.MethodsData were collected on absenteeism and healthcare resource use from 5,913 asthma patients (18–50 years) across the selected countries for this analysis (UK, France [FR], Germany [DE], Italy [IT], Spain [ES], Netherlands [NL] - countries with patient sample size >850).ResultsAsthma control status and patient variables were similar across countries. Over 25% of UK patients reported nurses as their main asthma healthcare professional (HCP), few reported specialist visits; however other countries reported a high number of specialist consultations. Across countries, the mean annual number of HCP visits per patient was: FR: 3.31; DE: 3.63; IT: 4.25; NL: 2.21; ES: 3.00; UK: 2.32.Netherlands reported the lowest use across all resources (hospitalisation, emergency admissions, HCP visits) and is the reference country in country comparisons (using odds ratios [OR]).View this table:Overview of resource use by country (measured by OR)ConclusionDespite similar patient variables across countries, differences exist in resource utilisation, particularly in primary care and specialist use, suggesting a possible difference in healthcare delivery across countries.Funded by Mundipharma International Ltd.