Background Asthma is a respiratory disease that poses a significant public health problem: 335 million people in the world suffer from asthma, and in Morocco, 10%–20% of the population are involved. Given its high incidence, the adverse effects related to the treatment of asthma impose another issue in the therapeutic management of this disease.

Purpose To identify the undesirable effects linked with the treatment of asthma in the Moroccan population.

Material and methods We conducted a retrospective study of adverse reactions reported to the Poison Control and Pharmacovigilance Centre of Morocco from January 2011 to July 2017. From the national database, we selected notifications for asthmatic patients. From these data, drugs were classified using the anatomical, therapeutic and chemical classification system (ATC) and the various reported adverse reactions were classified according to the organ system class (SOC). Finally, we calculated: the percentages of each class of drugs in relation to the number of notifications and the percentages of each category of adverse effects in relation to the total of the notified effects.

Results Of the 268 patients with 328 adverse effects, the most incriminated drugs were: glucocorticoids ‘ATC-R03BA’ which represented 49% (131) of reported adverse reactions, followed by inhaled adrenergic ‘ATC-RO3A’ 38% (101) and selective beta −2-adrenoreceptor agonists ‘ATC-RO3AC’ 31% (83). The most common adverse effects were: secondary terms-wind 35% (114), cardiovascular disorders 19% (62), neurological disorders 13% (42) and gastrointestinal disorders 12% (39).

Conclusion This study confirms some theoretical data on the adverse effects of medication treating asthma. However, some adverse effects are more common in our population compared to that mentioned in the literature. This puts into question the different risks that can be entered into when taking these drugs.

References and/or acknowledgements 1. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). Learn more at: http://lavieeco.com/news/economics/asthme-the-prevalence-rates-is-10-to-maroc.html#Bfh4iEtAJPYS6mFl.99

No conflict of interest.