For US Healthcare Professionals
For US Healthcare Professionals
IT’S WHAT PATIENTS WITH ASTHMA AREN’T SAYING THAT COUNTS. GET THEIR LUNGFESSIONS
Managing asthma can be a struggle for many patients that only intensifies over time. Yet too many struggle alone and in silence.1-3 Together, let’s help them open up.
Get our LUNGFESSIONS conversation guide
Our evidence-based guide can help you bring out patients’ deeper challenges, so you can work together to meet their ongoing treatment goals.
Help your patients describe their current level of asthma control
Offer them this simple asthma journal to fill out before each appointment, so you can quickly assess their asthma status and progress to deeper conversations.
Asthma management is more than it may seem
Beyond the clinical aspects of asthma, many patients face challenges that go unspoken and unseen. These hidden burdens can impact patients physically and emotionally—and threaten their ability to sustainably manage their asthma.4,5
Psychological
≈80%
of patients with uncontrolled severe asthma said they are always thinking about their asthma.3*
Limitations
70%
of well-controlled patients with asthma still experience limitations in everyday activities, like walking and completing household chores.6†
Disease management
44%
of patients with asthma report that it is difficult or very difficult to manage their asthma.7‡
- *
National online survey by Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America between February and April 2017. The survey population included 185 US adults with "severe uncontrolled" asthma and 619 with "not severe uncontrolled" asthma.
- †
OPEN Asthma Survey, commissioned by the Allergy & Asthma Network, which included people with asthma treated with daily prescription medication and healthcare providers who treat patients with asthma.
- ‡
2024 Global Allergy & Airways Patient Platform survey of 1558 adult patients diagnosed with asthma and/or chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain.
LUNGFESSION
“IF I PRETEND I DON’T HAVE ASTHMA, WOULD I HAVE LESS ANXIETY?”4,5
Patients’ lack of communication with their doctors is real
Withholding information from their doctors about their treatment challenges:
60-80%
of patients1§
Admit to having withheld information from their doctor:
77%
of patients2||
Patients with chronic illnesses are 40% more likely to avoid sharing information with their doctors.1§
- §From 2 US nationwide online surveys, one via Amazon's Mechanical Turk with 2011 respondents in March 2015 and another via Survey Sampling International with 2499 respondents in November 2015.
- ||Online survey conducted in August 2018, using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, with 1239 participants aged 18-77. Healthcare providers and those who had never visited a doctor were excluded.
LUNGFESSION
“I WISH MY DOCTOR KNEW THAT I SOMETIMES SKIP MY MEDS SO I’M NOT CONSTANTLY REMINDED OF MY ASTHMA.”
The more time that goes by, the more that’s at risk
When patients don’t reveal their deeper thoughts and feelings, today’s successful management can quickly become unsustainable.
Many patients overestimate their asthma control
of patients whose symptoms are not well controlled according to the Asthma Control Test still consider their asthma to be somewhat controlled.8¶
of patients who considered their asthma well controlled experience shortness of breath 1-2 times a week.9#
The vast majority of patients struggle to manage asthma on their own
of adults in the US have insufficient health literacy, which is linked to poorer asthma control, worse physical function, and increased ED utilization.10,11**
of patients were not taking medication correctly.12††
of patients were not able to identify worsening signs.12††
of patients were unable to monitor their own clinical parameters.12††
Patients commonly make their own treatment decisions
of doctors believe their patients discontinued their controller medication without consulting them.13‡‡
of patients misperceived ICS as less effective with long-term use, and many don’t want ICS when asymptomatic.14§§
- ¶Based on an evaluation of uncontrolled asthma prevalence and burden in US respiratory specialist clinics, involving adults with physician-diagnosed asthma who reported using inhaled corticosteroids in the past 4 weeks.
- #US survey data from the Respiratory Disease Specific Programme, collected between December 2015 and February 2016, and between April and August 2018, to evaluate the consistency of physicians' and patients' perceptions of asthma control.
- **From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, which surveyed over 19,000 adults aged 16 and older across 38 states and measured adults' ability to understand tasks involving real-world health materials.
- ††Study involved 63 outpatients with asthma who were enrolled during their routine doctor visit and completed 3 PRO questionnaires.
- ‡‡From the Asthma General Awareness and Perceptions II survey, which included 1885 adults with asthma who used asthma medication in the previous year and 300 primary-care physicians.
- §§Canadian survey of 603 patients with asthma recruited from the general population.
ED=emergency department; ICS=inhaled corticosteroids; PRO=patient-reported outcome.
LUNGFESSION
“I’M EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT I’M NOT CONFIDENT USING MY INHALER.”
It’s time to open the conversation—and get to the real issues
Asking key questions can help encourage patients to share their true challenges. It paves the way to shared decision-making, which is shown to improve adherence, asthma-related quality of life, healthcare use, rescue medication use, asthma control, and lung function.15 This is key to making sure that today’s conversation can lead to tomorrow’s continued progress.
Elevate your partnership in sustaining wellness
70%
of patients believed that they were solely responsible for managing their asthma.16||||
You can help bring confidence that they're not alone.
Fill critical information gaps
53%
of patients believed they only had asthma when they were having symptoms. This was associated with a one-third decrease in adherence to ICS when asymptomatic.17¶¶
You can eliminate issues that stand in their way.
Get patients on a treatment regimen they can stick with
>30%
of patients with difficult-to-control asthma and recent non-adherence became adherent to their medication following a concordance interview.18##
You can support a plan that fits their life.
- ||||Online survey conducted in the UK in adults aged 18 and older with self-reported asthma. These data are based on an online survey conducted in the UK to assess experiences of patients with asthma with symptoms, disease management, and educational needs.
- ¶¶Prospective, longitudinal, observational cohort study conducted among 198 adults hospitalized with asthma over a 12-month period at an inner-city US teaching hospital.
- ##Based on a 2-phase study in 83 patients with difficult-to-control asthma. The first phase was observational, using refill records to identify non-adherence and initiate a medical discussion. The second phase involved a 12-month randomized, controlled trial with a nurse-led intervention for patients with persistent poor adherence.
GET PATIENTS’ LUNGFESSIONS—AND HELP THEM CONTINUE TO MEET THEIR TREATMENT GOALS
When discussing treatment, take an extra step. Use our evidence-based conversation guide to help patients open up, so you can help take progress further.
REFERENCES
Levy AG, Scherer AM, Zikmund-Fisher BJ, Larkin K, Barnes GD, Fagerlin A. Prevalence of and factors associated with patient nondisclosure of medically relevant information to clinicians. JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1(7):e185293. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.5293
New survey studies the lies patients and doctors tell: a new patient-doctor communication study. MedicareAdvantage.com. August 2018. Accessed February 22, 2025. https://www.medicareadvantage.com/patient-doctor-lies-survey
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. My life with asthma survey overview. 2017. Accessed February 22, 2025. https://aafa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/my-life-with-asthma-in-2017-survey-findings-report.pdf
Weiser EB. The Prevalence of Anxiety Disorders Among Adults with Asthma: A Meta-Analytic Review. J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2007;14:297-307.
Global Initiative for Asthma. 2024 Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention. Accessed April 2025. https://ginasthma.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GINA-2024-Strategy-Report-24_05_22_WMS.pdf
Allergy & Asthma Network. Open asthma. April 12, 2023. Accessed February 22, 2025. http://www.allergyasthmanetwork.org/research/our-work/open-asthma/
Global Allergy & Airways Patient Platform Asthma & Nasal Polyps Patient Survey. 2024. https://gaapp.org/gaapp-research-march-2024#:~:text=with%20Nasal%20Polyps%20Survey.,available%20online%20in%205%20languages
Oppenheimer JJ, Leung DYM. Asthma, in quest of optimizing care. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2021;127(5):517. doi:10.1016/j.anai.2021.08.016
Fuhlbrigge A, Marvel J, Electricwala B, et al. Physician-patient concordance in the assessment of asthma control. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2021;9(8):3080-3088.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jaip.2021.03.056
US Department of Health and Human Services. America’s health literacy: why we need accessible health information. 2008. Accessed March 21, 2025. https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/health-literacy/dhhs-2008-issue-brief.pdf
Federman AD, Wolf MS, Sofianou A, et al. Self-management behaviors in older adults with asthma: associations with health literacy. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014;62(5):872-879.
Baiardini I, Braido F, Giardini A, et al. Adherence to treatment: assessment of an unmet need in asthma. J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2006;16(4):218-223.
Panettieri RA Jr, Spector SL, Tringale M, Mintz ML. Patients' and primary care physicians' beliefs about asthma control and risk. Allergy Asthma Proc. 2009;30(5):519-528.
Boulet LP. Perception of the role and potential side effects of inhaled corticosteroids among asthmatic patients. Chest. 1998;113(3):587-592.
Wilson SR, Strub P, Buist AS, et al. Shared treatment decision making improves adherence and outcomes in poorly controlled asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010;181(6):566-577.
Fletcher M, Hiles D. Continuing discrepancy between patient perception of asthma control and real-world symptoms: a quantitative online survey of 1,083 adults with asthma from the UK. Prim Care Respir J. 2013;22(4):431-438.
Halm EA, Mora P, Leventhal H. No symptoms, no asthma: the acute episodic disease belief is associated with poor self-management among inner-city adults with persistent asthma. Chest. 2006;129(3):573-580.
Gamble J, Stevenson M, Heaney LG. A study of a multi-level intervention to improve non-adherence in difficult to control asthma. Respir Med. 2011;105(9):1308-1315.