Changes in the use of anti-asthmatic medication in an international cohort

Christer Janson*, R. de Marco, S. Accordini, E. Almar, M. Bugiani, A. Carolei, L. Cazzoletti, I. Cerveri, A. Corsico, E. Duran-Tauleria, D. Gislason, A. Gulsvik, R. Jõgi, A. Marinoni, J. Martínez-Moratalla, I. Pin, P. Vermeire, D. Jarvis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe changes in pharmacotherapy for asthma since the early 1990s in an international cohort of young and middle-aged adults. A total of 28 centres from 14 countries participated in a longitudinal study. The study included 8,829 subjects with a mean follow-up time of 8.7 yrs. Change in the prevalence of use for medication was expressed as absolute net change (95% confidence interval) standardised to a 10-yr period. The use of anti-asthmatics was found to have increased by 3.1% (2.4-3.7%) and the prevalence of symptomatic asthma by 4.0% (3.5-4.5%). In the sample with asthma in both surveys (n=423), the use of inhaled corticosteroids increased by 12.2% (6.6-17.8%). Despite this, only 17.2% were using inhaled corticosteroids on a daily basis at follow-up. Females with continuous asthma were more likely, compared with males, and smokers with asthma, to have started using inhaled corticosterolds since the first survey. The use of anti-asthmatics has increased in a pattern consistent with current consensus on treatment. However, despite increased use of inhaled corticosterolds, a large majority of subjects with symptomatic asthma do not use this treatment on a daily basis, particularly males and smokers with asthma. Copyright

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1047-1055
Number of pages9
JournalEuropean Respiratory Journal
Volume26
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Asthma
  • Epidemiology
  • Inhaled corticosteroids
  • Smoking
  • Therapy

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