News

Asthma Control Failure

Almost half (45%) of Australian adults living with asthma had poor symptom control and nearly one third (29%) required urgent medical attention in the past year, according to new work published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA).  Researchers from the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research at the University of Sydney  surveyed 2,686 adults with asthma about their disease control, use of healthcare services and their use of medications.  Adherence was described as “poor,” with 43% of prophylactic medication users taking their medication less than five days a week and 31% using it less than weekly.

The study follows findings from the Australian Centre for Airways Disease Monitoring, which showed while one or more respiratory medications were dispensed to more than two million people in 2013, most people only used them occasionally.  The Woolcock Institute has previously run a project which adapted an educational program for GPs to community pharmacy around counselling paediatric asthma patients.

NPS MedicineWise has earlier highlighted that while 97% of adults were confident they were using their medicine correctly, the Asthma Handbook indicated up to 90% of Australians did not use their inhaler properly.

Click here to view the MJA paper.

Source: Pharmacy.daily.com.au, Monday 11 May 2015