Abstract

Although SOADs comprise of a small proportion of patient pool, they pose major challenges in clinics for disease management and improving outcomes. We aimed to understand the proportion of SOADs seen by leading pulmonologists in India and challenges faced in managing them. Methods: 72 leading pulmonologists from India were invited for a day-long meeting. They completed a self administered opinion poll directed towards understanding the burden and challenges faced in managing SOAD patients. Clean data was entered in Epi-Info software. Simple descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0. Results: 44 consenting pulmonologists participated in the poll. 79.5% participants said that SOADs contributed to up to 15% of all their patients, while 11.4% said it contributed to over 30% of their patients. 75% agreed that SOADs were a growing burden. 83.7% said that only 20% severe asthma patients benefit from administration of biologicals. 67.2% said that cost of biological was a major limiting factor. 97.7% and 93.2% believed that SOAD patients required additional counseling and would benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) respectively. They believed that infrastructural changes(16.4%), additional trained paramedic staff (34.3%), advanced pulmonary testing (31.3%) and PR units (17.9%) at their existing place of work through a public-private partnership (61.3%) would help set up specialized centres for SOADs management. Conclusion: SOADs remain a major health burden in India. Additional training programs need to be set up for counseling, PR and palliation in SOADs. Public-private partnerships to set up centres of excellence will grossly alter the treatment outcomes for SOADs.