Cost affects use of life-saving preventer medications for asthma sufferers, experts say

Updated

Four out of five people with asthma are not using life-saving preventer medications and experts are concerned it is because of cost.

Asthma Australia has analysed figures from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and found 82 per cent of annual scripts for preventer medications are not completely filled.

They are concerned the reason is cost, with two preventers setting a patient back up to $70 a month.

Asthma Australia said its surveys suggest many people instead rely on cheaper Ventolin puffers, which is a poor way to manage asthma.

It also results in extra costs to the health system because patients are more likely to end up in hospital.

Woolcock Institute senior respiratory physician Professor Guy Marks said evidence showed people who bought preventers using concession cards purchased two-and-a-half times as much medication as others.

"That suggests to us that cost is one of the major barriers," he said.

Professor Marks said preventers saved lives.

"They greatly reduce the risk of dying from asthma," he said.

"To use it effectively you need to use it regularly."

Asthma Australia has been given a $135,000 National Health and Medical Research Council grant for a study to look at the problem.

Change in prescribing practices could save money

Professor Marks said they think they could save the government money by looking at doctors' prescribing practices for preventers.

Up to 90 per cent of patients are prescribed combination preventers that contain two medications, but research suggests that in many cases stand-alone corticosteroid puffers would suffice.

Puffer PBS Cost Your Cost Loss to govt Corticosteroid alone $25 $36 $0 Combination puffer $56 $36 $20 Ventolin $12 $14 $0



While both puffers cost similar amounts at the checkout, behind-the-counter combination preventers cost the PBS about double that of the stand-alone variety.

Asthma Australia estimates nearly two thirds of patients are being prescribed stronger medications than they need, purely out of habit.

Lead researcher University of New South Wales general practice professor Dr Nicholas Zwar said changing prescribing practices could make a big difference.

"To the consumer the cost is not really that different, maybe a dollar or two different, but to the PBS its substantially different," he said.

The joint study will look at whether savings from changing prescribing practices could be injected back into the system to bring down the cost of preventers overall.

Higher preventer use would ultimately mean less asthmatics end up in hospital.

"We are probably getting more attendances at emergency departments, more attendance at GPs when people get symptomatic," Dr Zwar said.

"More admissions to hospital than we need to have because the preventers are not being used to best effect."

Preventer medications put strain on family budget

Sydney mother-of-three Dawn Ward knows only too well the importance of preventers.

Her daughter Claire has ended up in hospital with asthma attacks.

The three-year-old needs two puffs of her preventer each morning and night, about two preventers a month.

"When she has a really bad bout we do end up with nebulisers and all the other medications that go with that," she said.

"On the worst month that I've ever had with her we've paid over $200 in nebulisers and preventers and Ventolins and all of the other business.

"If we get to hospital that's a different scenario again because then you've got to care for the others."

Ms Ward always fills preventer prescriptions but said it did put pressure on the single-income family budget.

"If she needs her medication, she needs her medication," she said.

"Something else gives, whether it be using hand-me-down clothes or cheaper foods. We don't go on family holidays often.

"Bottom line is if she doesn't have it, she has an asthma attack, she can't breathe, she dies."

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Topics: asthma, pharmaceuticals, health, australia

First posted