Register for Action Plan and Oral Steroid Use Cut Related Deaths Dramatically
AsthmaFebruary 5, 2001
2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The use of oral steroids to control a severe asthma attack reduced the risk of death from the disease by 90% and a written asthma action plan outlining treatment options was associated with a 70% reduction in risk of death, according to a study by medical investigators in Australia.
They examined data on 89 asthma deaths, while studying the records of 229 control patients. The controls were individuals with acute severe asthma who required broncho-dilators during emergency department visits to four participating hospitals.
During the 1980s, Australia and New Zealand had more deaths from asthma than any other countries in the world. In Australia, the death rate from asthma rose in 1989 to about six persons per 100,000 population per year, a rate that fell to three individuals per 100,000 per year by 1996.
In their study, the researchers found a written action plan could reduce the risk of death significantly as well as seriously reduce the hospitalization rate. They also found patients who died were significantly less likely than control patients to use oral steroids for attacks of asthma.
The study appeared in the January 2001 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
This article was prepared by Health & Medicine Week editors from staff and other reports.
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