Abstract

Background: In asthma, consistent control of chronic airway inflammation is crucial, and the use of asthma-controllermedication has been emphasized. Our purpose in this study is to compare the incidence of acute exacerbation andhealthcare costs related to the use of asthma-controller medication. Methods: By using data collected by the National Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, we comparedone-year clinical outcomes and medical costs from July 2014 to June 2015 (follow-up period) between two groups ofpatients with asthma who received different prescriptions for recommended asthma-controller medication (inhaledcorticosteroids or leukotriene receptor antagonists) at least once from July 2013 to June 2014 (assessment period). Results: There were 51,757 patients who satisfied our inclusion criteria. Among them, 13,702 patients (26.5%)were prescribed a recommended asthma-controller medication during the assessment period. In patients using arecommended asthma-controller medication, the frequency of acute exacerbations decreased in the follow-up period,from 2.7% to 1.1%. The total medical costs of the controller group decreased during the follow-up period compared to theassessment period, from $3,772,692 to $1,985,475. Only 50.9% of patients in the controller group used healthcare servicesin the follow-up period, and the use of asthma-controller medication decreased in the follow-up period. Conclusion: Overall, patients using a recommended asthma-controller medication showed decreased acuteexacerbation and reduced total healthcare cost by half.