Physician's experience on managing asthma in adolescents: results of the International AMADO (Asthma Management in ADOlescents) survey

Kevin Chong-Fah-Shen; Roxana Bumbacea; Cintia Bassani; Cesar Fireth Pozo Beltran; Duy Pham; Sebastien Lefevre; Elena Brandatan; Maria João Vasconcelos; Raquel Baldaçara; Silvana Monsell; Ivana Djuric-Filipovic; Razvigor Darlenski; Guillaume Pouessel; Alexei Gonzalez-Estrada; Marco Caminati; Luciana Kase Tanno

doi:10.5415/apallergy.2021.11.e45

Physician's experience on managing asthma in adolescents: results of the International AMADO (Asthma Management in ADOlescents) survey

Asia Pac Allergy. 2021 Oct 26;11(4):e45. doi: 10.5415/apallergy.2021.11.e45. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Authors

Kevin Chong-Fah-Shen¹, Roxana Bumbacea², Cintia Bassani³, Cesar Fireth Pozo Beltran⁴, Duy Pham⁵, Sebastien Lefevre⁶, Elena Brandatan⁷, Maria João Vasconcelos⁸, Raquel Baldaçara⁹, Silvana Monsell¹⁰, Ivana Djuric-Filipovic¹¹, Razvigor Darlenski¹², Guillaume Pouessel¹³, Alexei Gonzalez-Estrada¹⁴, Marco Caminati¹⁵, Luciana Kase Tanno^{1

16}

Affiliations

¹ University Hospital of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
² University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Bucharest, Romania.
³ Faculty of Medicine IMED, Passo Fundo, Brazil.
⁴ Teaching and Research Hospital with Specialties Juan Maria de Salvatierra, La Paz BCS, Mexico.
⁵ Department of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
⁶ Regional Institute for Allergic and Environmental Diseases - Clinical Immunology, Metz Regional Hospital, Metz, France.
⁷ Centre Hospitalier Regional, Department of Pediatrics Pneumology - Allergology, Namur, Belgium.
⁸ Allergy and Clinical Immunology Department, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João, Porto, Portugal.
⁹ Federal University of Tocantins, Palmas, Brazil.
¹⁰ Children's Hospital of San Justo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹¹ Clinical Centre Dragisa Misovic - Pediatric Department, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹² Department of Dermatolgy and Venereology, Tokuda Hospital Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria.
¹³ Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergy Department, Pôle enfant, Hôpital Jeanne de Flandre, CHRU de Lille and Université Nord de France, Lille, France.
¹⁴ Divsion of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Medicine, University of Verona and Asthma Center and Allergy Unit, Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy.
¹⁶ Desbrest Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health, Université de Montpellier, UMR UA11 INSERM, Montpellier, France.

Abstract

Background: Worldwide prevalence of asthma seems to be increasing in adolescents, but limited data is available regarding the management of asthma in this age group.

Objective: Therefore, we conducted an international survey focused on physicians who manage asthma in order to understand how Asthma Management in ADOlescents (AMADO) is currently performed.

Methods: The AMADO survey is a web-based global survey of physician's attitudes towards the management of asthma in adolescents, circulated for 17 weeks. The survey had an anonymous and voluntary standard. The questionnaire consisted in 27 questions covering the training background of respondents, difficulties in diagnosis, and in management of asthma in adolescents.

Results: Two hundred forty-four responses were received from 46 countries, from all continents. Most (65%) of participants indicated allergy as being their main specialty. The majority of participants (62%) had more than 5 years of clinical practice, but 62% have no formal training in management of adolescents with asthma. Most of participants (96%) indicated having at least one case of asthma in adolescents per month. 60% of respondents mentioned that the asthmatic adolescents only had the consultation due to the family imposition. All respondents mentioned having difficulties in the management of asthma in adolescents due to patient poor adherence. Overall, 44% of participants have no specific health care resources for adolescents in their departments. Main suggestions from the participants were: optimization of time and personalized communication to these cohort, and standardization of multidisciplinary actions to improve adherence to asthma control treatment.

Conclusion: Management of asthma in adolescents is still a challenge in clinical practice. The results from this survey helped us to identify the key issues to improve clinical outcomes in the future. This survey is the first step of the international AMADO initiative, which intends to optimize diagnosis and control of asthma and prevent avoidable deaths.

Keywords: Adolescence; Asthma; Management; Prevention; Survey.