Objectives. To identify the profile of asthmatic patients visiting com
munity pharmacies and to assess the appropriateness of their current a
sthma therapy, Design, Patients were identified as either chronic, new
ly diagnosed or undiagnosed. Asthma status was assessed from their cur
rent symptom and medication profiles and from performance in an airway
s responsiveness test. Reversibility of > 15% was suggestive of probab
le airflow obstruction and such patients were referred to a medical pr
actitioner. Setting. Four community pharmacies located in different so
cio-economic areas, viz, Khayelitsha, Wynberg, Mitchell's Plain and Vr
ijzee, were selected, Subjects, Participants over the age of 6 years,
who suffered from recurrent cough, wheeze, chest tightness and/or brea
thlessness and used over-the-counter (OTC) and/or asthma medications,
completed a questionnaire and participated in the airways responsivene
ss test, Outcome measures. Effective control of asthma based on minima
l symptoms, appropriate use of bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory th
erapies and absence of airflow obstruction, Results. Of the 220 partic
ipants, 120 were identified as chronic, 7 as newly diagnosed and 93 as
undiagnosed, Chronic asthmatics suffered daily symptoms and used inad
equate prophylactic anti-inflammatory therapy. Many undiagnosed asthma
tics were unaware of their symptoms acid took OTC medication indiscrim
inately. Based on peak expiratory flow rate measurements, > 50% of the
screened patients displayed a reversibility of > 15%, Conclusions, Ch
ronic and many undiagnosed asthmatic patients frequent community pharm
acies for their medication. Such patients suffer recurrent asthma symp
toms and use medication inappropriately, which results in suboptimal l
ung function. Pharmacists should play a more participatory role in the
detection and management of asthma in the community.