Lack of health literacy is responsible for a high number of people with uncontrolled asthma – Health – SAPO.pt

According to the expert, the main reason is “the lack of literacy, which is linked to several other reasons”. “There is an undervaluation of asthma, its impact on patients’ lives and, overall, the public health problem it represents”. This is despite the fact that “uncontrolled asthma can lead to various exacerbations, which can range from mild to very serious, requiring hospitalization and treatment in intensive care and with the risk of death”.

The expert states that even though “uncontrolled asthma means a huge loss of quality of life and a drastic increase in the costs involved”. “In addition, the possible need to undergo treatment with oral corticosteroids and cycles of antibiotic therapy and reinforcement of inhaled treatment may lead to some more serious side effects.”

Remember that “asthma is a respiratory disease, of an inflammatory nature, with very different clinical manifestations and whose intensity also varies over time”. “We normally associate it with symptoms such as wheezing or wheezing, cough (predominantly dry), shortness of breath or a feeling of tightness in the chest, symptoms that can appear spontaneously or triggered by high exposure to allergens, exertion, temperature differences, pollution, exposure to smoke tobacco, respiratory virus infections, the most common, among others”.

However, controlling the disease is not an impossible task, according to the expert. On the contrary, “adherence to treatment with inhaled therapy, in the overwhelming majority of cases, leads to control without loss of quality of life, without increased costs, with fewer risks and possible worsening of existing comorbidities. When the person is compliant with their treatment, the necessary doses are lower and act ‘locally’, since we are using inhalation therapy for a respiratory disease.”

Cláudia Vicente also explains that there are several types of asthma, “allergic, which is the most easily recognized type, usually associated with a past and/or family history of allergic disease; non-allergic asthma, in which the type of inflammation is different and therefore does not usually respond as well to inhaled corticosteroids; and cough-variant asthma, considered when the only symptom present is coughing and evidence of airflow limitation can only manifest itself during provocation tests”.

It is to overcome the lack of knowledge about asthma that, on World Asthma Day, the campaign “Today I will find out more about…“ was launched, an initiative of the Portuguese Association of Asthmatics (APA), the Portuguese Association of General Medicine and Family (APMGF), Respiratory Disease Study Group (GRESP), Portuguese Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (SPAIC), Portuguese Society of Pulmonology (SPP), National Pharmacy Association (ANF), Family Health Unit National Association (USF -AN) and AstraZeneca, developed in a videocastwhich features the presentation of doctor João Carlos Ramos, known to the Portuguese public, and which will consist of seven episodes, each of which will cover a topic related to the disease.

Throughout the episodes of this videocast, topics will be covered ranging from the care that a caregiver should take, risks of self-medication, warning signs, among others. In the first episode, the guests are children, who genuinely and simply talk about what they understand by asthma and what are the main symptoms they recognize.

In the week in which World Asthma Day is celebrated, Cláudia Vicente also reinforces the importance of “people with asthma and their caregivers seeking knowledge in the area, in order to be able and qualified to manage their asthma”. “Adherence to treatment is essential. I would like you to keep in mind that a person with asthma should have a symptom-free life and that is what we should all work towards.”

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