[General practitioners' management of childhood asthma in Sfax, Tunisia]

To study primary care physicians' attitudes toward childhood asthma management and their adherence to international guidelines.

Cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical survey conducted among 400 primary care physicians practicing in the governorate of Sfax. Data collection was done through a self-administered questionnaire with 36 questions.

the participation rate was 53.75%. The average age was 49.72years and the sex ratio=1.52. 56.3% reported that they assisted in childhood asthma medical education between 2019 and 2020. Poor knowledge was found in 53.3% of practitioners. It concerns in 60.5% of cases the long-term asthma treatment. We found that 49.8% of doctors did not use the GINA guidelines in their daily practice. These guidelines were considered too complex by 45.8%. Oral salbutamol was prescribed by 10.2% of physicians in childhood asthma exacerbation and 64.2% antibiotics as therapy for childhood febrile asthma exacerbation. The practice of prescribing antihistamines as long-term therapy is still present in 28.8% of physicians. In front of exercise-induced asthma, sports exemptions were given by 33% of participants. Adherence to asthma guidelines was found in 34,41%. Physicians who are aged between 35 and 45years and who used GINA guidelines had better childhood asthma management score than other physicians.

Despite guidelines, childhood asthma is still underdiagnosis and undertreated. Our study revealed difficulties faced by primary care physicians in the management of childhood asthma.