A middle-age non-smoking woman with uncontrolled persistent bronchial asthma

Résumé

A 51 year-old female was referred to our attention in our outpatient clinic for persistent dyspnea on exertion and cough. Her past medical history was characterized, in the last 7 years, by atopic uncontrolled persistent bronchial asthma and bronchiectasis. The patient was only using affixed dose combination of inhaled glucocorticoid and long-acting beta2 agonist as needed. The presence of comorbidities that may influence asthma control and the response to the antiasthma drugs were excluded. The patient was educated to using correctly her drug devices and on the fundamental relevance of adhering a regular asthma treatment, according to the medical recommendations. Within one month of regular antiasthma therapy, her asthma was well controlled. Bronchial Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lower airways whose management needs long-term adherence to the prescribed anti-inflammatory therapy. Despite the clinical efficacy of current asthmatherapies, a low level of adherence is a frequent issue in clinical practice. Before defining a patient as affected by severe asthma, it is mandatory to carefully evaluate its long-term adherence to the asthma treatment and to exclude the presence of comorbidities that may cause asthma like-symptoms and/or reduce the efficacy of antiasthma drug