Insights into frequent asthma exacerbations from a primary care perspective and the implications of UK National Review of Asthma Deaths recommendations.

ABSTRACT: The United Kingdom National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) recommends that patients who require ≥3 courses of oral corticosteroids (OCS) for exacerbations in the past year or those on British Thoracic Society (BTS) Step 4/5 treatment must be referred to a specialist asthma service. The aim of the study was to identify the proportion of asthma patients in primary care that fulfil NRAD criteria for specialist referral and factors associated with frequent exacerbations. A total of 2639 adult asthma patients from 10 primary care practices in Glasgow, UK were retrospectively studied between 2014 and 2015. Frequent exacerbators and short-acting β₂-agonist (SABA) over-users were identified if they received ≥2 confirmed OCS courses for asthma and ≥13 SABA inhalers in the past year, resp

SUBMITTER: Yang JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6145932 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature