Illness Perception among Bronchial Asthma Patients Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bengaluru, South India

Bronchial asthma is a major chronic illness and its prevalence is increasing all over the world. The control of the symptoms of asthma is related to the perception of its symptoms. A descriptive study was conducted with the objective of to assess the illness perception among bronchial asthma patients in a tertiary care hospital for a period of 2 months. 110 patients with bronchial asthma, selected by purposive sampling were interviewed using the standard Illness Perception Questionnaire – Revised (IPQ R). There were 32 (29.10%) were males and 78 (70.90%) females. The mean age of study subjects was 35.75±15.89 years. 104 (94.55%) subjects experienced breathlessness and 102 (92.73%) experienced wheezing; however, only 52(47.27%) and 71 (64.55%) subjects respectively, related these symptoms to asthma. Possible causes of asthma according to the study subjects were pollution (105, 95.45%), diet (93, 84.55%), poor medical care in the past (50, 45.45%), hereditary (41, 37.27%) and stress/worry (41, 37.27%). In conclusion, Patients with bronchial asthma have poor illness perception.