Insights, attitudes, and perceptions about asthma and its treatment: a multinational survey of patients from Europe and Canada

Table 5 Similarities and differences between EUCAN and US AIM survey results

	Proportions of patients (%)
Patient reports	EUCAN AIM	US AIM [20, 21]
Had well-controlled asthma based on guidelines	18^a	29
Had severe asthma episodes in the past year	38^b	52
Ever had an asthma exacerbation perceived as life-threatening	33	36
Missed work or school in the past year due to asthma	19	22
Had overnight hospitalization for asthma in the past year	7	6
Agreed with the statement that:
• maintenance medication should be taken every day	66	74
• maintenance medication is not necessary when asthma symptoms are not experienced regularly	48^c	40
• rescue medication can be used every day if needed^d	67	67
Used prescribed controller medication in the past 4 weeks	57	70
Used quick-relief inhaled medication at least once a week over the past year	43	51
Used an oral steroid (pill or liquid) to manage asthma symptoms in the past year	32	35
Worry about using oral steroids, like prednisone	34^e	≥52^f
Had a doctor-developed written action plan for asthma treatment	23^g	32^h

Some of the country-specific EUCAN results were similar to the US results
^ain the United Kingdom, 25 % of patients reported that they had well-controlled asthma
^bin Germany, 52 % of patients reported that they had severe asthma episodes over the past year, with a median of 6 severe episodes during the year (the median was 3 in all other countries, including the US)
^cin the United Kingdom, 39 % of patients agreed with the statement that maintenance medication is not necessary when asthma symptoms are not experienced regularly; this finding reveals misalignment of patient beliefs and asthma management guidelines
^dpatients who need to use rescue medication every day are likely to have poorly controlled or severe asthma
^ein Canada, 54 % of patients reported that they worry about using oral steroids
^fpatients’ concern about oral steroid use was stratified by their level of asthma control (well controlled [52 %], not well controlled [56 %], or very poorly controlled [61 %])
^gin Italy and Spain, 39 and 45 % of patients, respectively, reported that they had a doctor-developed written action plan for asthma
^honly 25 % of US patients had ever completed the Asthma Control Test [25]

ISSN: 1939-4551