Picturing asthma in Turkey: results from the Turkish adult asthma registry
Gülfem Çelík, Ömür Aydın, Derya Öztuna, Gözde Köycü Buhari, Zeynep Çelebi Sözener, Bilun Gemicioğlu, İsmet Bulut, Şengül Beyaz, Cihan Örçen, Seçil Kepil Özdemir, Metin Keren, Ebru Damadoğlu, Tuğçe Yakut, Ayşe Füsun Kalpaklıoğlu, Ayşe Baççıoğlu, Sümeyra Alan Yalım, İnsu Yılmaz, İlkay Koca Kalkan, Mehmet Atilla Uysal, Elif Yelda Özgün Niksarlıoğlu, Alı Fuat Kalyoncu, Gül Karakaya, Müge Erbay, Sibel Naycı, Fatma Merve Tepetam, Aslı Gelincik, Hülya Dirol, Özlem Göksel, Selen Karaoğlanoğlu, Ferda Öner Erkekol, Sacide Rana Işık, Füsun Yıldız, Yasemin Yavuz, Dilek Karadoğan, Nurgül Bozkurt, Ümmühan Şeker, İpek Kıvılcım Oğuzülgen, İlknur Başyiğit, Serap Argun Barış, Elif Yılmazel Uçar, Tuba Erdoğan, Mehmet Polatlı, Dane Ediger, Fatma Esra Günaydın, Murat Türk, Leyla Pur Özyiğit, Zeynep Yeğin Katran, Yonca Sekibağ, Enes Furkan Aykaç, Dilşad Mungan, Özcan Gül, A. Tevfik Cengiz, Bulent Akkurt, Şeyma Özden, Semra Demir, Derya Ünal, Ayse Feyza Aslan, Ali Can, Reyhan Gümüşburun, Gülhan Boğatekin, Hatice Serpil Akten, Sinem İnan, Münevver Erdinç, Aliye Candan Öğüş, Murat Kavas, Demet Polat Yuluğ, Mehmet Erdem Çakmak, Saltuk Buğra Kaya, Gülistan Alpagat, Eylem Sercan Özgür, Oğuz Uzun, Şule Taş Gülen, Gülseren Pekbak, Deniz Kızılırmak, Yavuz Havlucu, Halil Dönmez, Bahar Arslan, Gülden Paçacı Çetin, Şadan Soyyiğit, Bilge Kara, Gülden Paşaoğlu Karakış, Adile Berna Dursun, Reşat Kendirlinan, Ayşe Bilge Öztürk, Can Sevinç, Gökçen Ömeroğlu Şi̇mşek, Öznur Abadoğlu, Pamir Çerçi, Taşkın Yücel, İrfan Yorulmaz, Zahide Çiler Tezcaner, Emel Çadallı Tatar, Ahmet Emre Süslü, Serdar Özer, Engin Dursun, Arzu Yorgancıoğlu
Abstract
Introduction National data on asthma characteristics and the factors associated with uncontrolled asthma seem to be necessary for every country. For this purpose, we developed the Turkish Adult Asthma Registry for patients with asthma aiming to take a snapshot of our patients, thereby assigning the unmet needs and niche areas of intervention.Methods Case entries were performed between March 2018 and March 2022. A web-based application was used to record data. Study outcomes were demographic features, disease characteristics, asthma control levels, and phenotypes.Results The registry included 2053 patients from 36 study centers in Turkey. Female subjects dominated the group (n = 1535, 74.8%). The majority of the patients had allergic (n = 1158, 65.3%) and eosinophilic (n = 1174, 57.2%) asthma. Six hundred nineteen (32.2%) of the patients had obese asthma. Severe asthma existed in 670 (32.6%) patients. Majority of cases were on step 3–5 treatment (n: 1525; 88.1%). Uncontrolled asthma was associated with low educational level, severe asthma attacks in the last year, low FEV1, existence of chronic rhinosinusitis and living in particular regions.Conclusion The picture of this registry showed a dominancy of middle-aged obese women with moderate-to-severe asthma. We also determined particular strategic targets such as low educational level, severe asthma attacks, low FEV1, and chronic rhinosinusitis to decrease uncontrolled asthma in our country. Moreover, some regional strategies may also be needed as uncontrolled asthma is higher in certain regions. We believe that these data will guide authorities to reestablish national asthma programs to improve asthma service delivery.