D2.135 - Preventive counseling regarding the risk factors for individuals with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rank among the top five respiratory diseases globally, causing about 4 million deaths annually. In accordance with the current international and national clinical guidelines, the main therapy and prevention of both asthma and COPD are non-drug methods aimed at correcting risk factors. This study aims to assess the prevalence of preventive counseling (PC) among patients regarding smoking cessation (SC), weight reduction, healthy eating habits, and increased physical activity (PA).

Within the "Know your heart" international scientific project (2015-2018), a representative sample from Novosibirsk and Arkhangelsk, Russia (ages 35-69) was studied. The frequency of getting PC was analyzed among those respondents who have had contacts with the healthcare system over the last year (n=3321). Among them, 1541 people (46.4%) are currently or ex-smokers, 2346 (70.9%) have a BMI≥25. Two subgroups were formed: respondents who reported a history of only asthma (n=96; 3.5%), and only COPD (n=472; 15.3%). Data were analyzed using SPSS v.26. Indicators were compared using Pearson's χ2 test, odds ratio (OR), and Cramer's V.

Diet: among respondents with a history of asthma, 44.8% received PC; without asthma, 43.3% (Table 1). For COPD, the indicators were 48.1% and 43.4%, respectively. At the same time, if among patients with COPD there is a certain trend towards more frequent counseling (p = 0.052), then no statistically significant differences were found for asthma.

PA: respondents without asthma received PC for FA less frequently than respondents with asthma (35.6 and 42.7%, respectively). The same was observed in persons with COPD (35.6% and 39.4%, respectively). However, no statistically significant differences were found (p=0.154 and p=0.114).

SC: Among asthmatics, SC was more common than among respondents without asthma (35.9% and 32.3%, respectively); there were also no statistically significant differences (p = 0.638). But in the presence of COPD, PC was significantly more common (46.0% and 32.3%, p<0.001).

Weight loss: respondents who noted in their anamnesis the presence of both asthma and COPD were consulted more often than those who did not have these pathologies, but no significant differences were found (55.4% and 47.0%, p=0.155; 48.3% and 47.0, p=0.658, respectively).

Despite the critical importance of non-pharmacological interventions for the correction of clinical conditions in patients with asthma or COPD, the frequency of PC on the risk factors in these patients was insufficient, often not reaching 50.0%. In addition, the fact that healthcare professionals do not work more actively with patients with respiratory diseases draws additional attention.