[Survey of levels of asthma control among Japanese patients in general practice].

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of asthma control in Japanese adult patients in general practice.

Methods: 11490 Japanese patients with adult asthma who were treated by primary care physicians were enrolled. The treatment steps and levels of asthma control were determined according to the Japanese Asthma Prevention and Management Guideline 2009. In addition, patient satisfaction with asthma management was scored from 0 (dissatisfied) to 10 (fully satisfied).

Results: Inhaled corticosteroids were administered to 90.9% of patients. Of 11490 patients, the percentage of patients undergoing treatment steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 41.8%, 31.7%, 28.4%, and 22.1%, respectively. The average scores of satisfaction with asthma treatment in treatment steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 7.83, 7.68, 7.62 and 7.46, respectively.

Conclusions: Although a large number of patients were treated with inhaled corticosteroids and the rate of satisfaction with asthma management was high in all treatment steps, asthma was poorly controlled in this study. This dissociation was considered to be due to low patient's own goals of asthma treatment.