A real-world implementation of asthma clinic: Make it easy for asthma with Easy Asthma Clinic

Abstract

Background and objective: Asthma is a common disease. Although several practice guidelines for asthma exist, good control is still problematic, particularly in developing countries. The Easy Asthma Clinic (EAC) was established in 2004 with the aim of providing simplified asthma guidelines, a multidisciplinary approach, and an online database. This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes of EAC in a real-world setting. Method: Clinical data were collected from the EAC database between 2004 and 2017. Treatment data and asthma control data were evaluated during the study period. Results: In all, 358 182 patients with asthma were treated at EAC in 1171 hospitals throughout Thailand during the 14-year period. For 3 264 117 visits, inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) was given at the highest percentage (average of 50.00%) with an average percentage of controllers at 75.08% and a trend of increasing treatment (coefficient 0.007; p < 0.001). The percentage of controlled asthma also increased from 20.48% to 27.76% with a coefficient of 0.015 (p for trend <0.001). Conclusion: The EAC may facilitate controller use in patients with asthma thereby increasing asthma control according to a large sample size and long longitudinal study.

Keywords

• Multidisciplinary
• Controlled
• Inhaled corticosteroid
• Pragmatic study
• Asthma