Evaluative study of asthma control in a saudi hospital

Abstract

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, there are many patients who suffer from uncontrolled asthma. However, very few studies have been conducted to explore this issue. In this regard, the primary aim of the current study is to examine the level of asthma control among patients in a Saudi hospital. The authors used the GINA 2019 classification to classify the patients into three categories - controlled, partly controlled, or uncontrolled asthma. The secondary goal of the study was to examine the relationship between the level of control and the number of times that a patient visited the emergency department because of an asthma attack. Data was collected from asthmatic patients who attended a pulmonary clinic between October and December 2019. The results showed that close to 75% of the patients had controlled or partially controlled chronic asthma symptoms. Only 25% of the patients had uncontrolled symptoms of asthma. The results of the chi-square test were as follows (age = 0.509, p 0.05, gender = 0.143, p 0.05, education level = 2.07, p 0.05 and level of physical activity = 8.55, p 0.05). These findings mean that age, gender, education level, and the level of physical activity did not have any significant impact on the adherence to the treatment plan. An examination of the relationship between the treatment plan and emergency department visits resulted in: (r=0.317, p0.05). These results meant that there was an equal number of emergency department visits for those who adhered and those who did not adhere to the treatment plan.