Anti-asthmatic agents

Asthmatic women using only short-acting treatments take longer to conceive, study finds

Asthmatic women who only use short-acting treatment are more likely to have difficulty conceiving compared with women who rely on longer-acting medication to manage their condition.…

Pharmacist review of asthma patients is cost-effective, Italian study finds

A study conducted in Italy has found that a medicines use review (MUR) for asthma, with a protocol adapted from the UK, had a beneficial effect on patients’ asthma control and was cost effective compared with usual care.…

Advice to give to asthma patients about air pollution

Two-thirds of people with asthma in the UK say poor air quality makes their asthma worse, which puts them at higher risk of an asthma attack. There is also evidence that being exposed long-term to high concentrations of air pollution plays a part in causing asthma. Women who are exposed to hig…

Study identifies most important inhaler technique errors that are linked to poor asthma outcomes

A study of 3,660 patients across eight countries has identified the types of inhaler technique errors that are associated with the greatest impact on asthma outcomes.…

A quick intervention recommendation by community pharmacists for patients using inhalers

Many pharmacists are probably busy reviewing inhaler use and technique as part of their medicines use reviews and new medicine service processes for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The long-acting beta-2 agonist formoterol is a common ingredient in step-u…

Patients need training to use inhalers properly, study finds

Ellipta inhaler device comes out on top in GSK-sponsored research comparing several types of inhaler devices and their misuse among COPD and asthma patients.…

NICE recommends first asthma treatment to target eosinophils

Mepolizumab has been recommended as an add-on injectable treatment for severe refractory eosinophilic asthma in adults.…

Long-acting beta-agonist combination therapy not linked with serious asthma events

A study of asthma patients found that the combination treatment budesonide/formoterol and budesonide alone produced a similar number of serious asthma-related events.…

Vitamin D reduces the rate of severe asthma attacks

Vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk of severe asthma attacks by over a third, a systematic review has found. …

Why we need write access to patient summary care records

A patient came into our pharmacy requesting an emergency supply of a salbutamol inhaler recently. He lives elsewhere but was working locally. We accessed his summary care record (SCR) and, to our surprise, discovered that he had not been prescribed anything since 2015. Before then, he was regularly …