A cross-sectional study to evaluate utility measure and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among patients with severe uncontrolled asthma in Spain
Creators: name: Moragón, Eva Martínez
name: Costa, Luis Manuel Entrenas
name: Hernández, Joaquín Sánchez-Covisa
name: de Prado Moncusí, Anna
name: Ruiz, Gema Monteagudo
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Space Science
subject: Medicine
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Ecology
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Developmental Biology
subject: Marine Biology
subject: Science Policy

description: The utility measure is a method to quantify health-related quality of life according to the preference values that patients attach to their health status. This study aimed to estimate the utility measure of patients with controlled and uncontrolled severe asthma (SA) in Spain, separately. Additionally, other characteristics (sociodemographic, clinical, and healthcare resource use [HCRU]) were also assessed for both SA populations. This cross-sectional study included 159 patients with SA in Spain. Data were collected from medical records and directly from the patients during the study visit. Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ)-5 was used to classify patients with controlled and uncontrolled SA. Most of the patients were female (72.0% uncontrolled SA and 63.6% controlled SA). The mean (SD) EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D-5L) score was 0.88 (0.14) and 0.70 (0.25) in controlled and uncontrolled SA, respectively. The mean (SD) Asthma Quality-of-Life-5D (AQL-5D) score was 0.93 (0.09) and 0.85 (0.09) in controlled and uncontrolled SA, respectively. Emergency visits (19.2% vs. 2.7%) and hospitalizations (7.7% vs. no hospitalization) were more common among uncontrolled SA than controlled SA. Mean (SD) number of visits to primary care and pneumologists in uncontrolled SA vs controlled SA was 4.1 (2.8) vs. 2.5 (3.0) and 3.7 (3.5) vs. 2.8 (2.2), respectively. The study provides data on utility measures among patients with SA in Spain for the first time. Patients with uncontrolled SA had lower HRQoL and higher HCRU than patients with controlled SA. Therefore, implementation of measures that improve HRQoL among patients with uncontrolled SA is highly recommended. Despite the existence in Spain of validated asthma questionnaires, the impact of severe asthma on quality of life, depending on whether it is controlled or not, had never been assessed. This study, that included 159 patients, was conducted to fill the gap above by obtaining two utility measures for quality of life, a generic one using the EQ-5D questionnaire (can be used for comparison with other chronic conditions) and an asthma-specific one using the AQL-5D questionnaire. Patients with uncontrolled SA had a lower utility measure than patients with controlled disease and, therefore, a lower quality of life. In addition, patients with uncontrolled SA also had higher use of healthcare resources. These results highlight that implementation of measures that improve quality of life among patients with uncontrolled SA is highly recommended.