Adherence to asthma guidelines in general practices

Adherence to asthma practice guidelines is low. Improved compliance could p otentially improve care of patients with asthma. The purpose of this study was to determine if patients managed in a general practice with an associat ed asthma clinic are more likely to use asthma medications according to cli nical practice guidelines than patients managed in the general surgery of t he practice. A cross-sectional study of adult asthmatics, aged 18-55 years, was conducted in six British general practices. Prescription data an ail a sthma medication was collected for a 6-month period. Information on asthma clinic attendance, age, sex, employment status, other medical illness, and how patients used their inhaled beta(2)-agonist was collected through quest ionnaire. The prescription data for asthma medication and patient use of in haled beta(2)-agonist were compared to the British Thoracic Society's (BTS) Guidelines for Management of Asthma in Adults to determine if the patient' s asthma medication regimen was appropriate. There was no significant assoc iation found between appropriate asthma medication and asthma clinic attend ance or other patient characteristics. Adherence to the BTS guidelines was low. Fifty-eight percent of the asthma patients used asthma medication regi mens that were not consistent with the BTS guidelines published 1 year earl ier, Adherence to the BTS guidelines was low regardless of patient characte ristics, including asthma clinic attendance, age, sex, employment status, o ther medical illness, or individual practice. These findings underscore the need to document the utility of clinical practice guidelines which may imp rove physician compliance.