Long-acting β-agonist prescribing in people with asthma in primary care

Daniel R Morales, Cathy Jackson, Shona Fielding, Bruce Guthrie

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Long-acting ß2-agonist (LABA) monotherapy is contraindicated in asthma following reports of serious adverse events. Anonymised Scottish health data were used to determine the prevalence of LABA prescribing and LABA monotherapy (sustained and episodic) in asthma during 2006. Of 73 486 asthma patients identified, 5592 (7.6%; 95% CI 7.4% to 7.8%) were prescribed LABAs as a separate inhaler of which 991 patients had LABA monotherapy (17.7% (95% CI 16.7% to 18.7%) of patients at risk). Asthma reviews were associated with reductions in sustained (OR 0.44; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.61) but not episodic monotherapy (OR 1.16; 95% CI 0.85 to 1.57). These findings support recent changes in UK asthma guidelines recommending LABAs in fixed-dose combination inhalers.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)192-194
    Number of pages3
    JournalThorax
    Volume68
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2013

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