Sleep disturbances and asthma control: a real life study.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the level of asthma control in real life and the relationship between Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores and sleep disturbances. Patients on control visits for bronchial asthma were asked to complete the ACT questionnaire and to answer 5 questions about their sleep quality (S5). It was found that asthma control was unsatisfactory in 44%. In all ACT classes the level of asthma control appeared to be inversely related to the presence of sleep disturbances: patients with good control reported less frequent and less severe sleep disturbances than uncontrolled subjects. However, a significant percentage of subjects (11-20%) with total control of asthma still had sleep disturbances that resulted in an impaired quality of life. Therefore in any asthma case with sleep disturbances a broader investigation is required whether that impairment is actually a result of asthma or some other co-morbidity. Thus it would be useful if patients who reported sleep disturbances despite good/total control of asthma and rhinitis were managed with a holistic clinical approach and underwent nocturnal polysomnographic monitoring.