Prevalence of Near Fatal Asthma and Related Risk Factors in Asthmatic Patients in Kerman

Abstract

Background & Aims: Asthma is one of the most common diseases worldwilde that can be prevented with optimal access to medical care. Since there is no data about the prevalence of risk factors of death caused by asthma in our region, the present study was performed to determine the prevalence risk factors of fatal asthma in asthmatic patients. Methods: This study was done on 200 asthmatic patients who referred to Be'sat clinic in Kerman/Iran. Asthma diagnosis was made through physical examination or spirometery. A questionnaire consisting demographic features and related risk factors was filled by the physician for each patient. Then, data were analyzed using SPSS15 software. Results: Totally, 82% of the patients had at least one of the risk factors of death caused by asthma. The most common risk factors were being jobless (63%) and inability to pay for asthma medications (43%). Moreever, 73% of patients had severe permanent asthma. Conclusion: Since most of the deaths from asthma are preventable and there are several efficient treatments for asthma, even small proportion of mortality related to asthma is unacceptable. Furthermore, because a majority of patients, in spite of the degree of their problem, had not been treated adequately, providing required education about asthma and its treatment for physicians, especially family physicians is necessary.