Changes to inhaled corticosteroid dose when initiating combination inhaler therapy in long-acting β agonist-naive patients with asthma : a retrospective database analysis

Covvey, Jordan R and Johnston, Blair F and Wood, Fraser and Boyter, Anne C (2014) Changes to inhaled corticosteroid dose when initiating combination inhaler therapy in long-acting β agonist-naive patients with asthma : a retrospective database analysis. Thorax, 69 (11). 1056 - 1058. ISSN 0040-6376 (https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2013-204944)

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Abstract

Retrospective prescribing data were obtained from 46 general practice surgeries in NHS Scotland. Patients with asthma who were naïve to previous long-acting β agonist therapy and initiated combination inhaler therapy in 2008–2009 were classified according to the inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) dose in their combination inhaler compared with the highest dose of ICS they received before initiation. Among the 685 patients (541 (79.0%) who had been prescribed an ICS previously), those originally on low-, medium- or high-dose ICS were changed to high-dose combination therapy in 122/250 (48.8%), 94/151 (62.3%) or 85/113 (75.2%) cases in each ICS dose category, respectively. These results suggest that evaluation of appropriate high-dose ICS prescribing in general practice is needed.

ORCID iDs

Covvey, Jordan R, Johnston, Blair F ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9785-6822, Wood, Fraser and Boyter, Anne C ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6088-5571;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)