In Portugal, about 600 thousand people have asthma, but seven out of ten live with an uncontrolled disease, according to EPI-ASTHMA, the latest study on the disease in the country. These data are considered “alarming” by António Sousa Fernandes , Hospital da Luz pneumologist, in an interview in the TV show “Consultório”, on Porto Canal, broadcasted on May 6, the World Asthma Day. “The figures don’t look good, but what’s even more alarming”, as the physician pointed out, “is that people that do have asthma live with an uncontrolled disease, although efficient inhalation therapy exists” , which should be made available to all. This was, in fact, this year’s theme on the World Asthma Day: “Making inhalation therapy accessible to everyone”. Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease, “meaning that it is always present and inflammation is persisting, although with intermittent symptoms”, explained António Sousa Fernandes, who also highlighted a few alerts: One major problem is the difficulty in identifying the symptoms . “People learn to live with the symptoms, believe that feeling shortness of breath and having limitations to daily activity is normal, thus postponing the visit to a doctor.” “There are people with diagnosed asthma and duly prescribed therapy, but who only use the inhaler irregularly .” There is also the problem of “ the false perception of cure: the individual uses the inhaler during a given period , when feeling unwell, then using it only in case of emergency, until eventually deciding that the inhaler is no longer working” and putting it aside. “Inhalation therapy today is highly developed, safe and effective, but must be done appropriately. When the therapeutic substances do not reach the bronchi, the inhaler will not produce the desired effect. And there is evidence that patients that carry the therapy properly have controlled asthma, suffer fewer crises, resort less to emergency care and require minimum oral corticoids.” Member of the Respiratory Allergology Commission of the Portuguese Society of Pneumology, António Sousa Fernandes further explained in the same TV show the different types of asthma, the symptoms and warning signs, what happens in the medical consultation, and the diagnostic exams required (spirometry being the main one). Watch the interview on Porto Canal
