Chronic outpatient management of asthmatics attending the emergency department: a survey from a country with low income.

Purpose: Little is known about compliance with international guidelines of asthma management in developing countries where some medications are prohibitively expensive.

Methods: A survey was conducted in asthmatic patients attending the emergency department for acute asthma. Asthma severity was evaluated and conformity of chronic treatment with international guidelines was assessed. Additional features of asthmatic education were also evaluated.

Results: A total of 127 consecutive patients (mean age 34 +/- 14 years) answered the questionnaire. Mild asthma was present in 19.7% patients, 56.7% had moderate asthma and 23.6% had severe asthma. Of the 124 known asthmatic patients, 33% had no treatment for chronic asthma. In the remaining, treatment adhered to international guidelines in 44% patients. The major cause of treatment inadequacy was the lack of inhaled corticosteroids (64%) or suboptimal dosage of corticosteroids (13%). Conformity to guidelines according to favorable or unfavorable economic conditions was 59% and 33%, respectively (P = 0.036). Treating physicians provided an 'action plan' for managing acute symptoms to 19% patients. Forty percent of asthmatic patients performed correctly the five components of metered dose inhaler use.

Conclusion: Our study reveals an important proportion of non-treated asthmatic patients. In most asthmatic patients, treatment did not conform with guidelines because of an underutilization of corticosteroids, mainly because of economic obstacles.