Abstract
Background: There is frequent reference to asthma triggers in the patient education literature but little is known of patients' experiences with triggers and their impact on and relationship to asthma control.
Methods: We used patient diaries and an online study to quantify the impact of asthma triggers in patients from five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK). 1202 asthma patients completed the study; 177 also completed an online diary every other day for 3 weeks.
Results: People with asthma expressed concern about the long term impact of triggers – only 1% believed that triggers would not affect their asthma. All triggers were perceived as having an impact on asthma symptoms (at least 6.1 for all triggers on a 10 point scale). Perceived impact increased with the increasing number of triggers identified by each patient. 80% of respondents claimed to have modified their behaviour due to exposure to triggers at least once in the last 4 weeks. Patients reporting a high number of triggers experienced more day and night-time symptoms, a greater number of severe attacks, had a lower Asthma Control Test (ACT) score, were more likely to be hospitalised and to miss days at work/school. People with asthma experiencing 16 or more triggers missed on average 12.2 days compared with 2.9 days for those reporting 1–5 triggers. Of those patients with a high number of triggers, just 3% had never adapted behaviour to manage their asthma.
Conclusion: Asthma triggers can have an important impact on the lives of asthma patients. The impact increases with the number of triggers experienced and results in significant behavioural changes.
Funded by GSK
- © 2011 ERS
