To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: DG DISPATCH - CHEST: Asthma Under-treated Among Health Professionals URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/14129E.htm Doctor's Guide November 2, 1999
CHICAGO, IL -- November 2, 1999 -- Results of a new study show that asthma may be under-treated or mistreated even among nurses. Almost 17 million Americans with asthma go undiagnosed and untreated.
The study, headed by Dr. R. Graham Barr and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, describes asthma medication use and compliance among women in the Nurses Health Study who had physician-diagnosed asthma. The researchers presumed that compliance for medication use would be better among nurses. This new study shows, however, that even among health professionals who are familiar with asthma medications, the disease may be under-treated. The findings from this study were presented yesterday (Nov. 1) at the American College of Chest Physician meeting, in Chicago, IL.
Asthma accounts for 100 million days of restricted activity annually in the United States, but using the appropriate medications decreases the number of asthma attacks, hospital admissions and total costs.
The Nurses Health Study is a prospective cohort of 121,701 female registered nurses who are surveyed annually about a range of health topics. In his study, Dr. Barr sent out a survey to 9,839 of the nurses with diagnosed asthma to determine whether or not they were being treated in accordance with the clinical guidelines of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP). Excluded from the study results were those who were smokers or those with other respiratory diseases. The final analysis was based on 3039 women with an average age was 63 years.
A total of 19 percent of the women reported previous hospitalization for asthma. Forty-one percent had mild intermittent asthma; 27 percent had mild persistent asthma; 28 percent had moderate persistent asthma; 5 percent had severe persistent asthma.
According to the researchers, although medication use increased with severity of disease, as recommended by NAEPP guidelines, the compliance with long-term medications was low. Only 56 percent of the nurses with mild asthma were treated according to the NAEPP guidelines. Of the women with moderate persistent asthma, only 68 percent were treated. A surprising 39 percent with severe persistent asthma were treated according to the published guidelines.
The researchers found that long-acting bronchodilators were underused in women with moderate asthma; inhaled corticosteroids were also underused among those with mild-moderate asthma. They concluded that asthma remains under-treated, even among health professionals, and that further work is needed to ensure adherence to NAEPP guidelines. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.