Targeting asthma control in real‑life clinical practice by using ICS/LABA combination

Introduction: Regular treatment with a fixed combination of long‑actingβ2-adrenoreceptor agonist (LABA) and inhaled corticosteroid(ICS) led to asthma control in randomized controlled trials. Is it possible to reach similar results in a real‑lifesetting? Methods: Duringa 3-month multicenter prospective study, patients not meeting the criteria of total asthma control were treated for three months witha fixed combination of ICS/LABA guided by a physician. The patients were educated in proper inhaler technique and importance ofadherence to treatment. Results: Four hundred and ninety‑fourpatients were included with a mean age of 39.0 (SD 16.2) years anddisease duration of 6.3 years (SD 7.5). During the treatment phase, a significant reduction in patients with day‑time(from 93% to 23%, p< 0.001) and night‑timesymptoms (from 81% to 10%, p < 0.001) was observed. The mean Asthma Control Test score gradually increasedfrom 16.7 (SD 3.8) to 23.8 (SD 1.7) (p < 0.001). The proportion of uncontrolled asthma patients decreased from 76% at the baseline visitto 2% at the end of the study period (p < 0.001). The mean dose of ICS decreased from the baseline 721 (SD 289) μg to the final 672 (SD317) μg (p = 0.041) daily. According to multivariate analysis (logistic regression), an age ≥ 40 years (OR = 0.552, p = 0.002) and smoking(OR = 0.527, p = 0.026) significantly decreased asthma control. Conclusion: In a real‑lifescenario, regular treatment with ICS/LABA andimproved adherence/inhaler handling resulted in a significant increase in asthma control in as little as three months.