Physician-prescribed Asthma Treatment Regimen does not differ Between Smoking and Non-smoking Patients With Asthma in Seoul and Gyunggi province of Korea

Hae-Sim Park, Ki-Suck Jung, Kian Fan Chung, Felicia Allen-Ramey, Ryan Pollard, Richard Perry, David Price

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

PURPOSE: Smoking has detrimental effects on asthma symptom control and response to treatment and is prevalent among asthma patients in South Korea. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of smoking among asthma patients in South Korea and to compare the medication regimens of asthma patients who do and do not smoke.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from August 2010 to January 2011. Participating physicians (N=25) recorded demographic and clinical data on all asthma patients presenting during the study period (N=2,032), and then recruited a subset of patients (N=500) for the survey such that half were self-reported current smokers. Recruited patients were between the ages of 18 and 60.

RESULTS: Among presenting asthma patients, 17.3% were current smokers, 19.2% were former smokers, and 63.5% had never smoked. Within the analyzable study population (N=471), 212 patients reported smoking currently, 79 smoking formerly, and 180 never smoking. Among current and former smokers, 79.7% and 81.0%, respectively, were men, while women represented 80.5% of patients who had never smoked. Agreement was strong between physician-determined smoking status and patient-reported smoking status (κ=0.82; P<0.001). However, asthma medication regimens examined according to GINA treatment steps did not differ by smoking status. In addition, mean quality of life scores and level of asthma control did not differ by smoking status.

CONCLUSIONS: In South Korea, physicians are well aware of the smoking status of their patients. However, smoking status did not affect the prescribed medication regimens of this population of asthma patients.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)30-36
Number of pages7
JournalAllergy, Asthma & Immunology Research
Volume7
Issue number1
Early online date16 Jul 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2015

Keywords

  • asthma
  • asthma treatment
  • Korea
  • smoking
  • adverse effects

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