Study underlines the importance of asthma management
15 November 2006

A study into asthma-related deaths among inner-city children and young adults with asthma has shown that only half use their home nebulisers as prescribed, and rarely have a personal asthma action plan to manage their symptoms.

In the study, all asthma-related deaths in a US state between 2002 and 2004 among patients aged 2-24 years old were retrospectively analysed.

There were 86 deaths during the three-year period, 38 in children and 48 in young adults. Home nebulisers were prescribed for 52 people, but only 30 used them regularly; frequency of use ranged from once a week to up to six times a day.

Of the total 52 people with home nebulisers, nine had written personal asthma action plans, but none used them to track or manage their symptoms.

Nearly half of the 86 people had peak flow meters, but only eight used them regularly, while around a third had both a home nebuliser and a peak flow meter, but only eight used them regularly.

Of the 30 people who used their home nebulisers regularly, 20 were also prescribed with inhaled or oral corticosteroids, but only 11 used these treatments as prescribed.

Erica Evans, Asthma Care Development Manager for Asthma UK, said that while asthma care in the UK differs slightly from the US, the message was the same.

‘These people obviously had significant asthma, but very low expectations of what they could do to keep it under control,’ she said.

‘People should rely on controlling their asthma using preventer rather than reliever medicines. Also, build up a rapport with your GP or asthma nurse and have a personal asthma action plan tailored to your lifestyle. And don’t ignore the signs of asthma worsening – take action.

‘These are all effective ways of avoiding the tragedy of unnecessary death from asthma.’