The patient-physician partnership in asthma: Real-world observations associated with clinical and patient-reported outcomes

INTRODUCTION: It is hypothesized that a good partnership between asthma patients and their physicians has a direct and positive influence on the patients' clinical and patient-reported outcomes. Conversely, poor partnership has a detrimental effect on clinical and patient-reported outcomes. This paper uses data from a real-world observational study to define partnership through matched physician and patient data and correlate the quality of partnership with observed clinical and patient-reported outcomes. METHODS: Data were drawn from Adelphi's Respiratory Disease Specific Programme, a cross-sectional study of consulting patients in five European countries undertaken between June and September 2009. A range of clinical and patient-reported outcomes were observed allowing analysis of the partnership between 2251 asthma patients and their physicians. RESULTS: Analysis demonstrates that the better the partnership between patient and physician, the more likely the patient is to have their asthma condition controlled (P<0.001), to experience fewer exacerbations (P<0.001), to have better quality of life (P<0.001), to have fewer sleep disturbances (P<0.001), and to have fewer patient-reported symptoms (P<0.001). Partnership is also associated with lower impact on lifestyle (P<0.01) and reduced days lost at work/school (P<0.05), and with patient satisfaction with their inhaler device (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The patient-physician partnership is a contributory factor in the improvement of asthma treatment, and patient education may lead to improvement in a patient's ability to contribute to this. Device satisfaction is one of the markers of good partnership.