The role of pulmonologist in patient education on asthma control using the asthma control test in Erbil city

Background and objective: Asthma is a disease characterized by chronic airway inflammation and variable expiratory airflow limitation that is under-controlled globally. This study aimed to show the role of pulmonologists in patient education on asthma control in Erbil city, Iraq. Methods: This study was done on 100 patients with asthma from the 1st of September 2023 to the 31st of August 2024. Demographics, asthma control status, causes of uncontrolled asthma, and the state of asthma control were assessed using the asthma control test tool questionnaire. Educational interventions given by the face-to-face method include knowledge about asthma symptoms, triggers, inhaler technique, inhaler of adherence, medication side effects, rescue drug instructions, a written asthma action plan, self-monitoring, and regular review. For reevaluation of the impact of educational intervention on asthma control, an appointment was given to the patients after three months for reevaluation by using ACT. Results: The mean age ± SD of the patients was 33.23 ± 13.5 years (ranging from 15 to 70 years) with a female-to-male ratio of 1:1. Most of the studied patients (61%) are below 35 years old. Overall, the level of asthma control was 12% at presentation and increased to 45% post-education, which is statistically significant. There was no statistically significant association between gender and age group with the level of asthma control (P-value = 0.811 and P-value = 0.072, respectively) at presentation and post-education. According to the results of the study, there was a statistically significant association between the effect of education given by pulmonologists about asthma self-management and the level of asthma control by measuring the mean difference between pre and post-education, which is - 4.21 (15.2 - 19.41 pre-education and post-education, respectively). Conclusion: The study concluded that there was a statistically significant association between pulmonologists' asthma educational interventions and the improvement of asthma control levels.