TY - JOUR T1 - Pharmacological treatment of asthma in a cohort of adults during a 20-year period: results from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey I, II and III JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00073-2018 VL - 5 IS - 1 SP - 00073-2018 AU - Christer Janson AU - Simone Accordini AU - Lucia Cazzoletti AU - Isa Cerveri AU - Sebastien Chanoine AU - Angelo Corsico AU - Diogenes Seraphim Ferreira AU - Judith Garcia-Aymerich AU - David Gislason AU - Rune Nielsen AU - Ane Johannessen AU - Rain Jogi AU - Andrei Malinovschi AU - Jesús Martinez-Moratalla Rovira AU - Alessandro Marcon AU - Isabelle Pin AU - Jennifer Quint AU - Valerie Siroux AU - Enrique Almar AU - Valeria Bellisario AU - Karl A. Franklin AU - José A. Gullón AU - Mathias Holm AU - Joachim Heinrich AU - Dennis Nowak AU - José Luis Sánchez-Ramos AU - Joost J. Weyler AU - Deborah Jarvis Y1 - 2019/02/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/5/1/00073-2018.abstract N2 - Asthma often remains uncontrolled, despite the fact that the pharmacological treatment has undergone large changes. We studied changes in the treatment of asthma over a 20-year period and identified factors associated with the regular use of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment.Changes in the use of medication were determined in 4617 randomly selected subjects, while changes in adults with persistent asthma were analysed in 369 participants. The study compares data from three surveys in 24 centres in 11 countries.The use of ICSs increased from 1.7% to 5.9% in the general population and the regular use of ICSs increased from 19% to 34% among persistent asthmatic subjects. The proportion of asthmatic subjects reporting asthma attacks in the last 12 months decreased, while the proportion that had seen a doctor in the last 12 months remained unchanged (42%). Subjects with asthma who had experienced attacks or had seen a doctor were more likely to use ICSs on a regular basis.Although ICS use has increased, only one-third of subjects with persistent asthma take ICSs on a regular basis. Less than half had seen a doctor during the last year. This indicates that underuse of ICSs and lack of regular healthcare contacts remains a problem in the management of asthma.Despite increased ICS use, only 34% of subjects with persistent asthma take ICSs on a regular basis; <50% have seen a doctor in the last year. Underuse of ICSs and lack of regular healthcare contacts remains a problem in asthma. http://ow.ly/GUZ630mZkVN ER -