Asthma knowledge among adult asthmatic outpatients in a tertiary care hospital

We conducted a prospective, cross sectional survey on 94 asthmatic subjects using an interviewer-administered questionnaire to audit the level of knowledge of adult asthmatic outpatients at a tertiary care hospital, in order to determine the sources of asthma information and variables associated with poor asthma knowledge. Of the 94 subjects, 39.4% were ignorant of the inflammatory nature of asthma while 56.4% did not understand the role of prednisolone in acute exacerbation of asthma. Only 17.0% reported having a written action plan. Lower educational level and older age were significantly associated with lower asthma knowledge scores. The doctor was the main source of asthma information. Asthma knowledge scores were significantly higher among those who named the doctor, pamphlets, newspapers, internet and books as a source of asthma information. Our study demonstrates that many asthmatics have poor understanding of some aspects of their disease and have no written asthma action plan.