Results Although highlighting a general lack of high- quality real-life effectiveness observational research on these clinical ly important topics , the analysis provided insights into how identified observational studies might inform asthma guidelines developers and clinicians .
Overall , RELEVANT appeared reliable and easy to use by expert review ers .
Conclusions Using such quality appraisal tools is m and atory to assess whether specific observational real-life effectiveness studies can be used to inform guideline development and /or decision-making in clinical practice
Abstract Introduction A Task Force was commissioned jointly by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology ( EAACI ) and the Respiratory Effectiveness Group ( REG ) to develop a  quality assessment tool for real-life observational research to identify high- quality real-life asthma studies that could be considered within future guideline development .
Real-life prospective study on asthma control in Italy: cross-sectional phase results.
OBJECTIVES To estimate the prevalence of partly controlled and uncontrolled asthmatic patients , to evaluate quality of life and healthcare re source consumption . METHODS Cross-sectional phase followed by a 12-month prospect i ve phase . Asthma Control Test and the EQ-5D were used . RESULTS 2853 adult patients recruited in 56 Hospital Respiratory Units in Italy were evaluated : 64.4 % had controlled asthma , 15.8 % partly controlled asthma and 19.8 % were uncontrolled . The mean ( SD ) EQ-5D score was 0.86 ( 0.17 ) in controlled , 0.75 ( 0.20 ) in partly controlled and 0.69 ( 0.23 ) in uncontrolled patients ( p<0.001 between groups ) . The number of patients requiring hospitalization or emergency room visits was lower in controlled ( 1.8 % and 1.6 % , respectively ) than in partly controlled ( 5.1 % and 11.5 % ) and uncontrolled ( 6.4 % and 18.6 % ) . A combination of an inhaled corticosteroid and a long-acting beta-2 agonist was the reported therapy by 56.0 % of patients , with the rate of controlled asthma and improved quality of life being higher in patients on extrafine beclomethasone/formoterol compared to budesonide/formoterol ( p<0.05 ) and fluticasone/salmeterol ( p<0.05 for quality of life ) . CONCLUSIONS Asthma control is achieved in a good proportion of Italian patients . Differences may be detected in a real-life setting in favor of extrafine beclomethasone/formoterol combination
Results Although highlighting a general lack of high- quality real-life effectiveness observational research on these clinical ly important topics , the analysis provided insights into how identified observational studies might inform asthma guidelines developers and clinicians .
Overall , RELEVANT appeared reliable and easy to use by expert review ers .
Conclusions Using such quality appraisal tools is m and atory to assess whether specific observational real-life effectiveness studies can be used to inform guideline development and /or decision-making in clinical practice
Abstract Introduction A Task Force was commissioned jointly by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology ( EAACI ) and the Respiratory Effectiveness Group ( REG ) to develop a  quality assessment tool for real-life observational research to identify high- quality real-life asthma studies that could be considered within future guideline development .