Proposals to improve the quality of life for asthmatic people

PROPOSALS to improve the quality of life for asthmatic people. In Spain, the prevalence of asthma is 5.5% of the population and of these, 7.7% suffer from a severe form. Taking into account the percentage of asthmatics, this is a significant number of patients. Despite this, this type of pathology remains unknown, because when naming asthma, most of the population identifies it as something mild.

However, severe asthma can limit the quality of life. To make this issue visible, GSK has created the National Institute for Severe Asthma (INAG). Among its objectives are to improve the training of specialists, unify the criteria for diagnosis and treatment, make visible in the population the limitations that these patients have and, above all, improve patient access to Asthma Units, as reported by Malaga Hoy.

The first challenge is to understand that severe asthma is a pathology that requires specialized and multidisciplinary care. Luis Perez de Llano, head of the Pneumology Service at Lucus Augusti University Hospital in Lugo (HULA) explained that patients with severe asthma may seem similar, but getting the treatment right depends on finding their subtle differences. “Something like finding the seven differences between two drawings that look the same.” In this sense, the expert highlights the work of the Asthma Units. “They have turned out to be very cost-effective because they allow bringing the experts together and the necessary technology.” However, it is difficult for each hospital to have a unit, or for all units to have the same resources for the diversity among patients.