INDIVIDUAL UTILIZATION OF ANTIASTHMA MEDICATION BY YOUNG-ADULTS - A PRESCRIPTION DATABASE ANALYSIS

Objectives. To analyse and evaluate current practice of asthma therapy by use of computerized prescription data. Design. Descriptive, non-in terventive. Setting. A pharmacoepidemiological database on computerize d refund claims from pharmacies in the Odense region in Denmark. Subje cts. Persons aged 20-44, presenting prescriptions for asthma drugs dur ing the period 1 October 1990 to 30 September 1991. Main outcome measu res. Prevalence of asthma drug use, the regimes chosen, relationship b etween beta-agonist and steroid use by the individual patient. Results . In all, 3020 persons used anti-asthma drugs, corresponding to a crud e 1-year prevalence of 3.6%. Sixty per cent were women. The subjects h ad an average anti-asthma drug consumption corresponding to 86% of the population's average. The four most common regimes were inhaled beta- agonist monotherapy, inhaled beta-agonist and corticosteroid, oral bet a-agonist monotherapy and inhaled corticosteroid monotherapy, altogeth er accounting for 79% of users. The proportion of corticosteroid users increased with increasing individual use of beta-agonists. With an an nual beta-agonist purchase of 100-200 defined daily doses, still less than half also used steroids. Conclusion. The majority of patients use a regime agreeing with current guidelines, except that more patients should be prescribed corticosteroids. The observed large increase in a sthma drug use is likely to be explained by an intensified treatment o f individual patients, rather than an increased prevalence.