Self-management of acute asthma among low-income urban adults

One approach to address asthma disparities has been to create evidence-based guidelines to standardize asthma care and education. However, the adoption of these recommendations has been suboptimal among many providers. As a result, low-income minority patients may not be receiving adequate instruction in asthma self-management. In addition, these patients may fail to follow guideline-based recommendations. We conducted 25 interviews to identify the extent to which urban low-income adults have received training in, and implement, self-management protocols for acute asthma. Twenty-five adults (92% female; 76% African American; mean age 39) were enrolled. Only one subject had received asthma self-management training and only 10 (40%) used short-acting beta-2 agonist-based (SABA) self-management protocols for the early treatment of acute asthma. No subject used a peak flow meter or an asthma action plan. Most (52%) chose to initially treat acute asthma with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) despite the availability of SABAs. Importantly, 21 (84%) preferred an integrated approach using both conventional and CAM treatments. Four themes associated with acute asthma self-management emerged from the qualitative analysis. The first theme safety reflected subjects' perception that CAM was safer than SABA. Severity addressed the calculation that subjects made in determining if SABA or CAM was indicated based on the degree of symptoms they were experiencing. The third theme speed and strength of the combination described subjects' belief in the superiority of integrating CAM and SABA for acute asthma self-management. The final themesense of identity spoke to the ability of CAM to provide a customized self-management strategy that subjects desired. It is unclear if subjects' greater use of CAM or delays in using SABA-based self-management protocols were functions of inadequate instruction or personal preference. Regardless, delays in, or under use of, conventional self-management protocols may increase the risk for an untoward outcome. To that end, all patents' acute asthma self-management strategies should be evaluated for their timeliness and appropriateness. This would be of particular importance for vulnerable populations who bear a disproportionate burden of the disease and who have the fewest resources.