European Cost of Asthma TreatmentEU-COAST

Trial description: The economic cost of asthma is considerable both in terms of direct medical costs (such as the cost of pharmaceuticals and hospital admissions) and indirect medical costs (such as time lost from work and premature death).The costs of asthma depend on the severity of disease and the extent to which exacerbations are avoided. Moreover, poor control of asthma symptoms is a major issue that can result in adverse clinical and economic outcomes. According to GINA guidelines, the goal of asthma treatment is to achieve and maintain asthma control. Such an objective can be reached in a majority of patients with a pharmacologic intervention strategy developed in partnership between the patient/family and the doctor. Validated measures for assessing asthma control score goals as continuous variables and provide numerical values to distinguish different levels of control. Among them, the Asthma Control Test (TM - QualityMetric Incorporated) is widely recognized. Few data exist on the relationship between asthma control and health care consumption.Some models for predicting asthma costs have been proposed. However, these models only attempt to assess costs associated with medications and/or asthma exacerbations. Furthermore, in such studies, asthma control was not defined accordingly to current international criteria.Considering the increasing interest of health authorities in reducing asthma associated costs and improving quality of care, it appears necessary to study the relationship between the cost and the level of control.