Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jan 7;23(1):7.
doi: 10.1186/s12890-022-02287-2.

Asthma control in Kazakhstan: need for urgent action

Denis Vinnikov  1   2 , Aizhan Raushanova  3 , Irina Mukatova  4 , Tair Nurpeissov  5 , Assia Кushekbayeva  6 , Assiya Toxarina  4 , Baktygul Yessimova  5 , Fatima Bespayeva  7 , Nurlan Brimkulov  8
Affiliations

Asthma control in Kazakhstan: need for urgent action

Denis Vinnikov et al. BMC Pulm Med. .

Abstract

Background: Asthma control, patients' awareness level and adherence to treatment in Kazakhstan have never been studied. The aim of this study was to verify the prevalence of controlled, poorly controlled and uncontrolled asthma in a large sample of three largest cities of Kazakhstan.

Methods: We recruited 600 (median age 54 (interquartile range (IQR) 22) years, 64% females) patients with diagnosis confirmed earlier in the outpatient facilities in Almaty, Astana and Shymkent in 2020-2021. We offered a structured questionnaire on asthma control and risk factors as of GINA and performed spirometry. We report the prevalence of asthma control, knowledge and skills and pharmacological treatment with 95% confidence interval (CI) and the association of selected predictors with asthma control.

Results: With the median of 9 (IQR 13) years of diagnosis, 40% of patients had comorbid COPD and 42% had allergic rhinitis, whereas 32% lived with pets. Asthma was well-controlled in only 12.3% (95% CI 9.7-15.0), partly controlled in 29.8% (95% CI 26.2-33.5) and uncontrolled in 57.8% (95% CI 53.9-61.8) patients. ACQ-5 score (range 0-5.8, median 2) equaled 0.2 (IQR 0.85) in well-controlled asthma patients, 1.4 (IQR 1) in partly controlled and 2.8 (IQR 1.4) in uncontrolled asthma patients. Knowledge and skills levels were very low. Only 54% were on inhaled corticosteroids (52.2% of them used budesonide/formoterol and 39.5% used fluticasone/salmeterol). 39% used steroids per os or parenterally within a period of 12 months (51% of patients with uncontrolled asthma).

Conclusion: Asthma control, knowledge and skills levels of asthma patients in the largest cities of Kazakhstan remain unacceptably low, whereas pharmacological treatment is far from optimal. Urgent action should be taken to support doctors' training, and we call to launch a national asthma program to coordinate asthma care in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: GINA; Inhaled steroids; Peakflowmetry; Prevalence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of well-controlled, partly controlled and uncontrolled asthma overall and in three cities with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The structure of medications used as basic treatment (A) and as rescue medications (B)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gibson GJ, Loddenkemper R, Lundbäck B, Sibille Y. Respiratory health and disease in Europe: the new european lung White Book. Eur Respir J. 2013;42:559–63. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00105513. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vinnikov D, Tulekov Z, Raushanova A. Occupational exposure to particulate matter from air pollution in the outdoor workplaces in Almaty during the cold season. PLoS One. 2020;15:e0227447. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227447. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vinnikov D, Rybina T, Strizhakov L, Babanov S, Mukatova I. Occupational burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the commonwealth of independent states: systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Med. 2021 doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.614827. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nurpeissov T, Nurpeissov T, Abdushukurova G, Gazaliyeva M, Avdugalieva A, Shagiyeva A. Asthma spreading and primary diagnostics problems in rural regions of Kazakhstan. Clin Transl Allergy. 2015;5:P22. doi: 10.1186/2045-7022-5-S2-P22. - DOI
    1. Nugmanova D, Sokolova L, Feshchenko Y, Iashyna L, Gyrina O, Malynovska K, et al. The prevalence, burden and risk factors associated with bronchial asthma in commonwealth of independent states countries (Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan): results of the CORE study. BMC Pulm Med. 2018;18:110. doi: 10.1186/s12890-018-0676-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed