Physicians' Preferences in the Use of PROMs During Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis Clinical Approach

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are a set of tools that allow clinicians to obtain information about the health status of their patients and help understand the impact of disease, treatment outcomes, patient satisfaction and awareness of the disease. However, patient-centered care may differ from private versus the public sphere in many countries leading to the gap of why this could happen. This study aims to identify physicians’ main reasons to use PROMs in patients with asthma and AR and how it associates with the type of medical care (public or private). We conducted an observational analytical cross-sectional study in a global multicentered setting with the use of virtual questionnaires in physicians that treat patients with asthma and/or AR. Descriptive and inferential analysis were performed using SPSS. Out of 441 physicians, 94.3% (n=416) use PROMs to monitor disease control, 90.5% (n=399) to monitor for performance and therapeutic approach and 88.9% (n=392) to monitor disease severity. The least common reason was to facilitate communication across different health care sectors 51.9% (n=229). We identified an association between monitoring of disease severity and facilitating decision-making with the type of medical care (p<0.05). Physicians most commonly use PROMs due to international recommendations, either by guidelines, consensus or position papers. Better understanding and awareness of realistic management of the condition in order to make clinical decisions according to increase or decrease in disease activity is perceived. Finally, the relevance of support either in public or private healthcare is highlighted in this study to ensure adequate medical encounters where clinical conditions are evaluated pertinently and offer appropriate recommendations.