Australian Doctor Australia Doctor 18th August 2017 | Page 4

News
Kiwis can teach us a lesson on asthma
Encourage annual reviews,
says Professor Reddel.
JOCELYN WRIGHT
WIDESPREAD
use
of
expensive asthma combina-
tion inhalers is not translat-
ing into clinical benefits for
patients, a trans-Tasman
study suggests.
Australian patients are
mostly
managed
with
inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)/
LABA combinations, but
they fare no better than their
Kiwi counterparts, who use
ICS-only preventers, a study
by the Woolcock Institute of
Medical Research in Sydney
shows.
Poor asthma symptom
control is common on both
sides of the Tasman, accord-
ing to a survey of 3223
asthma patients.
However, while 82% of
Australian patients use ICS
in the form of a combina-
tion inhaler, only 44% of
New Zealand patients do.
This is likely a result of
the easier access to combi-
nations listed on the PBS, in
contrast to tight restriction
in New Zealand, the study
authors say.
First-line use of combina-
tion inhalers is not recom-
mended in clinical guidelines
and PBS criteria. But it is
not possible to say whether
drug company marketing
has influenced GP prescrib-
ing, the authors say.
Furthermore,
despite
using cheaper single-ingre-
dient preventers, New Zea-
land patients have a higher
regular use of inhaled ster-
oids (43% vs 34%) than
Australian asthma patients.
Lead author Professor
Helen Reddel said the higher
out-of-pocket costs of com-
bination asthma inhalers
could be a significant factor
in poor adherence.
“This suggests that some
Australian patients could be
better off if they considered
moving to the more afforda-
ble basic preventer therapy,
as long as they made sure to
take it every day,” she said.
It was also notable that
Ne