PATTERNS OF ANTIINFLAMMATORY THERAPY IN THE POST-GUIDELINES ERA - A RETROSPECTIVE CLAIMS ANALYSIS OF MANAGED CARE MEMBERS

Published and widely disseminated guidelines for the care and manageme nt of asthma characterize asthma as a chronic, inflammatory disease an d propose specific recommendations for therapy with inhaled antiinflam matory medications. In a retrospective analysis of medical and pharmac y claims data of approximately 28,000 asthmatic members from five mana ged care settings, the dominant pattern of pharmacologic therapy that emerged was the use of bronchodilators without inhaled anti-inflammato ry drug therapy. In addition, a significant proportion of asthmatic pa tients received no prescription drug therapy for asthma. Less than one third of asthmatic patients received any anti-inflammatory therapy an d the majority of these received one or two prescriptions per year. Sp ecialist physicians were two to three times more likely than non-speci alists during a study period of 1 year to prescribe an anti-inflammato ry medication, and were half as likely to have their asthmatic patient s experience an emergency department or hospital event. This database analysis suggests that greater conformity with guidelines and/or acces s to specialist physician care for asthmatic members will lead to impr oved patient outcomes.