Change in asthma management needed

Asthma experts in Europe and the US have called for an urgent change in the way the condition is managed.

According to the experts, the prevalence of asthma has increased dramatically over the last 20 years and the condition causes around 180,000 deaths worldwide every year.

In Ireland alone, 470,000 people have asthma, including one in every five children. According to the Asthma Society of Ireland acute asthma attacks are responsible for 6,000 hospital admissions and an additional 26,000 A&E visits every year.

Writing in the European Respiratory Journal, the group of experts, which included respiratory specialists, GPs and paediatricians, said they had identified deficiencies in a number of areas in relation to asthma, including diagnosis, asthma control, treatment of asthmatic children and asthma research.

The group called for a concerted effort from policymakers, regulators, health professionals, industry and patients, to remedy the significant disparities in asthma management practices between and within European countries, to ensure better outcomes for European asthma patients.

The article highlighted the Finnish Asthma Programme as a best practice example of asthma management. It said that this programme demonstrates that early diagnosis, personalised treatment and guided self-management, combined with patient education and reductions in smoking and exposure to environmental risk factors, can improve patients' asthma while reducing overall costs.

"The Finnish Asthma Programme is a compelling example of what can be achieved when all parties cooperate. I hope it will find as many 'copycats' as possible,” commented one of the experts, Prof Stephen Holgate of the University of Southampton.

Meanwhile according to John Haughney from the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG), there are currently a lot of patients with poorly controlled asthma.

“The education and involvement of GPs is crucial if we want to improve this situation,” he insisted.

For more information on asthma, see...http://www.irishhealth.com/clin/asthma/index.html

[Posted: Mon 01/12/2008]