ANAHEIM, California — Patients with uncontrolled asthma are seen more often by primary care providers (PCPs) than by allergists, but a survey has found that 42% of PCPs are unfamiliar with the biologics that have markedly improved asthma treatment options over the past two decades.
Bijalben Patel, MD, with the Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, told Medscape Medical News that in addition to the considerable lack of knowledge of biologics in primary care, she was surprised that 77% of survey participants stated they only referred patients to specialists after two or more exacerbations.
"This is important because these patients are considered to have exacerbation-prone asthma which should be managed by specialists," she said.
She said that being "unfamiliar" with biologics meant that the healthcare provider may have heard of biologics but did not know the various types, initiation criteria, or side effects.
The researchers administered a REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) survey by email to primary care attending and resident physicians in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, and Pediatrics, and 85 responded. Responses were compared using Chi-square tests.
Patel presented the results of the survey (abstract P110
