Abstract

Background: There are not enough data on the epidemiology of asthma in pediatric patients. The goal of the study was toassess the level of asthma control using the childhood Asthma Control Test (c-ACT). Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the outpatient pulmonary clinic at King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh.Pediatric patients who were diagnosed with bronchial asthma by their primary treating physician were recruited over a one-year period. Patients completed the c-ACT and questionnaires, which were associated with the quality of asthma control. Results: Two hundred and ninety-two asthmatic patients (n = 292) were enrolled, and 35.3% of these patients were female. The estimated prevalence of uncontrolled asthma at the time of the study was 45.2%. Factors that were significant in asthma control were female gender (P-value = 0.041), winter months (P-value = 0.01), allergic rhinitis (P-value = 0.036), and eczema (P-value = 0.039). However, the degree of asthma control did not appear to be related to the place of residence, the type of clinic visited, pet ownership, receipt of an influenza vaccine, or medication use. Conclusion: This study identified evidence for the high prevalence of uncontrolled asthma in pediatric patients in out-patient clinics and several factors that may contribute to poor asthma control. Physicians should be aware of seasonality and of treating patients with comorbid eczema and allergic rhinitis

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