The predictors of asthma severity in the elderly
Keywords:
Asthma, eldery, lung function, comorbiditiesAbstract
Objective: To evaluate differences in asthma in the elderly and non-elderly adults. Methods: cross-sectional study with retrospective data analysis of the OPENASMA longitudinal cohort. Data were collected from the medical records of adult patients with asthma recruited from the asthma outpatient clinic of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Federal University of Goiás, in Goiânia (GO) from August 2021 to June 2022. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of HC-UFG, and all participants signed the informed consent form. The significance level adopted was 5% (p < 0.05). RESULTS: 158 patients were included in the study, 60.1% adults and 39.9% elderly. The duration of illness in the elderly was significantly longer than in young adults (p < 0.01). 100% of the elderly had comorbidities, with hypertension and DM being the most prevalent. Drug treatment in the elderly included more frequent use of LAMA (39.7% of the elderly) and LABA (90.5% of the elderly) compared to younger adults (p < 0.01 and p = 0.03, respectively) . Exacerbations were significantly less frequent in the elderly (12.7%, p 0.01), but were more severe than in young adults (p = 0.02). Elderly people had lower FEV1 indexes pre and post bronchodilator (p = 0.03). Conclusion: There are significant differences between asthma in the elderly and in young adults, with a higher frequency of more severe exacerbations and worse lung function, in addition to comorbidities, which may indicate that they are predictors of more severe disease in this age group.
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