Factors associated with the appropriate use of asthma medications among adult asthmatic patients attending asthma clinic in a teaching hospital.

Introduction: asthma tends to be more severe with worse symptoms in Africa due to late diagnosis and delayed initiation of treatment. To identify patient and treatment-related factors which influence the appropriate use of asthma medications.

Methods: the study was institution based cross-sectional design. Patients were invited to provide information regarding the use of their asthma medications and factors potentially associated with appropriate use of these medications. A stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the most important factor at a 0.05 level of significance.

Results: respondents with better knowledge of their asthma medications were more likely to use them appropriately (OR 5.82 [CI 95% 2.25-15.04]) as were those with positive attitudes and beliefs towards asthma and asthma medications (OR 3.88 [CI 95% 1.44-10.44]).

Conclusion: patients need to understand the importance of adhering to the prescribed regimen for their asthma medications even in the absence of overt symptoms in order to optimize clinical outcome.