Factors associated with poor asthma control in the year prior to students' first year at university

Introduction: We are aware of significant numbers of students attending emergency departments with asthma exacerbations early in the academic year. There is little in the literature on asthma control and management in young adults starting university. We studied factors associated with poor asthma control in first year university students. Methods: First year university students were recruited to a prospective observational cohort study. Interviews were conducted and an Asthma Control Questionnaire-6 (ACQ-6) was administered. Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Liverpool. Those with poor control (ACQ-6≥1) and adequate control (ACQ-6 Results: Half (24/50) of participants had asthma which was not controlled (ACQ-6≥1) when they started university. Table 1 shows a third of participants with poor control were not on inhaled corticosteroids, and 80% (19/24) did not have a written asthma plan. The statistically significant factor associated with poor control was awareness of ≥3 triggers. Conclusion: Management of those with ACQ-6≥1 seems poor at the start of university. We will re-assess at the end of participants9 first year.