This week we'll be exploring the results of a recent survey commissioned by the National Consumers League and conducted by Harris Interactive. This survey of 1,105 adult asthma patients and parents of children with asthma was designed to:

• Better understand the patient awareness of asthma symptoms and treatments
• Better understand the patient attitudes toward asthma symptoms and treatments
• Examine specific race and ethnicity asthma patient sub-groups, namely Hispanic and Black patients

This survey was carried out online and via telephone within the US from September 7 through November 3, 2006. The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, claims to be America's pioneer consumer organization. They state that their mission is "to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad."

Among the findings was the fact that about a third of adult asthmatics (29 percent) and parents of child sufferers (35 percent) live with at least one smoker. That is distressing, since tobacco smoke is not only a leading asthma trigger; it also can increase the risk of a child developing asthma in the first place.

The survey also found that nearly 2 out of every 10 (17 percent) parents of child sufferers and 1 out of 10 (10 percent) adult sufferers who have a medical professional currently managing their asthma, do not have an asthma treatment plan. This speaks poorly of my medical colleagues. Clearly, there is still much room for improvement in health professionals in how asthma is managed. Every asthmatic should have an up to date Asthma Action Plan.

Finally, it seems more than 2 out of every 10 adult asthma sufferers (22 percent) have not received any information at all about lifestyle changes they can make to improve their asthma condition. I find this appalling, since lifestyle changes—that is, trigger avoidance—is a key cog in preventing asthma from taking control of your life. Even with the best asthma medicines, it will be difficult to avoid asthma symptoms if you're still being exposed to all of your asthma triggers.

In the coming week, we'll be looking at some of the other sections of this survey, namely:

• Severity of symptoms / perceived level of control
• Medication overuse & underuse
• Asthma's impact on lifestyle
• Differing impacts in minority populations

Please be sure to stop back and check the analysis for the remainder of this survey.