[Features of patients with bronchial asthma seen at the emergency department of a referral hospital in a semirural area].

UNLABELLED

Bronchial asthma is a chronic disease whose prevalence and severity is increasing. Appropriate treatment of exacerbation seems to affect the subsequent course of disease.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the extent of application of guidelines for treating exacerbations of asthma and to describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

All patients presenting with exacerbations to the emergency room of a referral hospital in a semi-rural area of Catalonia were enrolled consecutively. We recorded symptoms, function and treatment variables during the emergency and when the patient was stable, at which time we also administered the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ).

RESULTS

Forty-seven percent of patients resided in rural villages. Seventy-one percent lived in the area served by our hospital. Of the remaining patients, 57% came from municipalities in the Baix Empordà area, 29% in Alt Empordà area and 14% in La Selva area. Seventy-one percent went to the hospital directly from home, 66% of them were in the province of Girona; 75% of those homes were within urban areas. Of the 29% who had been sent to the emergency room by a physician, 71% were from a rural area. The 119 asthma exacerbations treated (114 patients, 71 females, 42 +/- 23 years) accounted for 0.3% of all emergency room visits. The exacerbation was considered severe in 31%, moderate in 47% and mild in all remaining cases. Eighty-eight percent of patients had experienced an exacerbation before. Symptoms were often present before the attack, but nearly half the patients were receiving relatively inadequate medication. Peak expiratory flow and oxygen saturation were recorded in 70% of cases and both variables improved after initial treatment (250 +/- 97 to 349 +/- 92 l/min, p < 0.001; and 92 +/- 7 to 96 +/- 2%, p < 0.01, respectively). All patients received inhaled salbutamol, 44% inhaled corticosteroids and 73% intravenous corticosteroids. A quarter of the patients were admitted to the ward (0.4% of all admissions) and 4% were admitted to the intensive care unit. Patients stayed 8.8 +/- 1.4 h in the emergency room. When patients were stable, asthma was severe in 14%, moderate in 42%, mild but persistent in 27%, and occasional in 17%. The total score on the AQLQ was 13.8 +/- 11.1, with mood being the dimension with the highest score (5.1 +/- 4.9). This score, along with social restriction, were lowest in the group of patients with chronic airflow obstruction.

CONCLUSIONS

Nearly half the patients were from rural villages most of which were located outside the zone served directly by our hospital. The preference for specialized medical attention would explain the percentage of patients seen who did not belong to the assigned area. Difficulty of access to the hospital from certain rural areas would account for the greater number of rural patients who had been referred by a physician. Clinical management and monitoring of asthmatic patients with exacerbation could be improved by greater diffusion and application of guidelines. It would be interesting to incorporate come sort of questionnaire on quality of life while taking a patient's history.