Impacto de la administración del cuestionario Asthma Control Test en atención primaria sobre la puntuación de control del asma()

OBJECTIVE: To compare the score indicative of asthma control obtained using the Asthma Control Test (ACT(®)) questionnaire administered by primary health care physicians, habitual users of the questionnaire, and those were not. DESIGN: A multicentre, prospective, epidemiological study. SETTING: Primary health care centres in Spain. PARTICIPANTS: Two study populations were defined: «ACT(®) users» and «non-ACT(®) users», according to the use of the ACT(®) questionnaire by their respective primary health care physicians. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: The patients completed the ACT(®) questionnaire during a baseline visit, and in another follow-up visit at 8 weeks. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients with an ACT(®) score ≥ 20. The change in the ACT(®) score was analysed if there was a change in treatment. RESULTS: There was a higher percentage of patients with well-controlled asthma in the ACT(®) users group after 8 weeks (68.5% vs. 55.6%; P=.01). A significant increase in the ACT(®) score was observed in the follow-up visit compared to the baseline visit, when there was a change in treatment in both groups (2.5 and 3.8 points, ACT(®) users and non-ACT(®)-users, respectively, P=.001 and P<.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The administering of the ACT(®) questionnaire improved the score indicative of asthma control in both populations of the study, with a higher score being obtained in those patients attended by physicians with previous experience in the use of ACT(®). The administering of the ACT(®) questionnaire could contribute to improving the long-term outcome of the patient, and favouring the appropriateness of the treatment.