Determination of Physical Problems for Adult Patients with Asthma

Abstract

Background: Asthma is considered as a major public health problem in many countries. It is one of the mostcommon chronic disease affecting both adults and children. According to world health organization there areat least 300 million people suffer from asthma worldwide and more than 180,000 people die from it eachyear. Therefore, the study aims to determine physical problems for adult patients with asthma and to find outthe relationship between physical problems with demographic characteristics.Materials and methods: - A descriptive study was carried out in Baghdad teaching hospital and Al-Yarmook teaching hospital for the period of 1122011 to 252012. A purposive (non probability) sample of(50) patients. Questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of the study. Data were collected through theapplication of the questionnaire and interview technique. Data were analyzed through descriptive statisticalapproach (frequency and percentage) and inferential statistical approach (Pearson correlation and mean ofscore) by using of SPSS 16.0.Results: The study results indicated that the range of age was between (40-49) year and most of them weremale, married and employed in government officer, read and write they live in rural, barely sufficient ofmonthly income. There is high physical problems such as cough, wheezing, dyspnea, tachycardia and weightloss.Conclusions:- There is no relationship between physical problems with marital status educational level.There is moderate relationship between the remaining variables this mean that physical problems are presentwith all variables.Recommendation:-The study recommended that educational programs should be constructed or designedfor patients toward health care awareness for patients with asthma. Patients with asthma should undergo teststo identify the substances that precipitate the physical problems. Patients are instructed to avoid the causativeagents wherever possible.Keywords:- physical problems, asthma