Patient-reported outcomes in asthma clinical trials.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The review provides an overview of the results of asthma clinical trials published in peer review journals in the last 18 months that evaluated patient-reported outcomes (PROs).

RECENT FINDINGS: In the last 10 years, health care moved toward a patient-centered approach, which includes patients' perspectives reflecting the impact of a disease and its treatment.

SUMMARY: Surprisingly, among the almost 300 clinical trials published in the last one and a half year, PRO evaluation was performed in only 20 studies, and none of them held in a real-life setting. The effort of applying the scientific methods of PRO investigations in asthma clinical trials following a rigorous and systematic approach needs to be highly improved to allow better understanding of patient reported factors. Some recommendations are drawn particularly about PRO assessment in personalized medicine research. The ability of an individual PRO to evaluate choice of treatment and its effectiveness remains to be achieved.