Over 30% of Aussies with difficult-to-treat asthma may be current smokers

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-05-07 03:00

Australia; NSW

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36.2% of Aussies with difficult-to-treat asthma may also be current smokers, according to an Aussie survey of 6,048 people with asthma, which found that 21.7% met the international criteria for difficult-to-treat asthma. The study also found that 67.1% of people with difficult-to-treat asthma were overweight or obese, and the average age of people with difficult-to-treat asthma was 48.3 years, which is seven years younger than the average in current Australian and International registries. The team found that the prevalence of difficult-to-treat asthma was higher in areas of greater socioeconomic disadvantage, and these participants were also less likely than those in less disadvantaged areas to have received biologic therapy for severe asthma in the previous three months, suggesting issues with access to specialist or multidisciplinary care, they say.

Media release

From:

Journal/
conference: Respirology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Macquarie University, The University of New South Wales, The University of Sydney

Funder: The Australian Centre for Airways disease Monitoring (ACAM) is a unit of the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, an independent medical research institute. ACAM is funded from a range of sources including investigatorinitiated research grants funded by industry partners including GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Novartis. Support for the present manuscript was provided via funding paid to the institution from the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre for Research Excellence. Research Grants have also been received by the institution from AstraZeneca, Glaxo Smith Kline and Perpetual Philanthropy.

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