Knowledge of their own allergic sensitizations in asthmatic patients and its impact on the level of asthma control.

BACKGROUND Asthma guidelines recommend the adoption of allergen avoidance measures (AAM). To do so, patients need to know their own allergies. However, this degree of knowledge has not yet been assessed. The aims of this study were to determine, in allergic asthma patients: i)the degree of knowledge of their own allergic sensitizations; ii)the percentage of those who knew all their allergies and, in addition, adopted AAM against all of them, and iii)the possible impact of this degree of knowledge on the level of asthma control. PATIENTS AND METHODS Descriptive, prospective and multicentre study, including 147patients from 9 Respiratory Medicine outpatient clinics. After confirming the previous allergic asthma diagnosis, a questionnaire was completed. It included asthma control and severity levels, results of previous allergy tests, and the description and number of allergic sensitizations known by the patients and AAM followed. RESULTS Only 72 (49%) patients knew all their allergic sensitizations and only 48 (33%) were also following AAM against all the allergens to which they were allergic. No relationship was established between the degree of knowledge of their own allergies and the level of asthma control (P=.544). CONCLUSIONS Overall knowledge about the allergic nature of their disease among asthmatic patients attending Spanish Respiratory Medicine Departments is inadequate. Furthermore, a higher degree of knowledge of their allergies does not seem to lead, by itself, to better asthma control. Both findings seem to question the effectiveness of current educational strategies in this field and consequently, they should be revised.