The real-world "ControL'Asma" study: a nationwide taskforce on asthma control in children and adolescents

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
• Respiratory Medicine
• Real-world Evidence Studies

Background:

• Asthma control is a primary objective in managing pediatric asthma.
• The Italian Society of Paediatric Allergy and Immunology conducted the ControL'Asma nationwide study.
• This study focused on assessing asthma control in a large cohort of children and adolescents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify factors associated with varying asthma control levels in a nationwide pediatric population.
• To evaluate asthma control using established guidelines and patient-reported outcomes.
• To understand the real-world status of asthma management in Italian children.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 480 asthmatic children and adolescents from 10 pediatric allergy clinics.
• Data collection included medical history, medication use, visual analog scale (VAS) for symptom perception, clinical examination, lung function tests, and asthma control questionnaires (cACT/ACT).
• Asthma control was assessed based on Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) criteria.

Main Results:

• According to GINA criteria, 55% of patients had well-controlled asthma, 32.4% partly controlled, and 12.6% uncontrolled.
• Using cACT/ACT, 23.2% of patients had uncontrolled asthma.
• Uncontrolled asthma correlated with poorer lung function, lower VAS scores, increased bronchial obstruction/reversibility, and higher corticosteroid use.

Conclusions:

• Asthma in Italian children and adolescents often presents with early onset, an allergic phenotype, and frequent rhinitis.
• Nearly half of the study population had uncontrolled or partly controlled asthma.
• VAS assessment of symptom perception emerged as a potentially valuable tool for asthma management in this demographic.