Symptoms control remains challenging for most patients with asthma. This study was conducted to evaluate the level of asthma symptoms control and lung function over 5 years of GINA (Global INitiative for Asthma) implementation. We included all patients with asthma who had been managed following GINA recommendations at the Asthma and COPD Outpatient Care Unit (ACOCU) of the University Medical Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from October 2006 to October 2016. Of 1388 patients with asthma managed following GINA recommendations, the proportion of patients with well-controlled asthma significantly improved from 2.6% at baseline to 66.8% at month 3, 64.8% at year 1, 59.6% at year 2, 58.6% at year 3, 57.7% at year 4, and 59.5% at year 5 (p < 0.0001 for all comparisons). The proportion of patients with persistent airflow limitation significantly decreased from 26.7% at baseline to 12.6% at year 1 (p < 0.0001), 14.4% at year 2 (p < 0.0001), 15.9% at year 3 (p = 0.0006), 12.7% at year 4 (p = 0.0047), and 12.2% at year 5 (p = 0.0011). In patients with asthma managed according to GINA recommendations, asthma symptoms control and lung function improved after 3 months and the improvement was sustained over 5 years.
Keywords: GINA; asthma; lung function; pulmonary function tests; spirometry.