Prescriptions for combination asthma inhalers for children aged five or younger have plunged by more than 70% in five years after a concerted campaign against the use of the medication.

The campaign followed a PBS review in 2014 showing thousands of young children were being prescribed fixed-dose inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting beta agonists (ICS/LABA) inhalers as first-line therapy despite clinical guidelines warning against the practice.

Last week, a study of PBS data reported that dispensed scripts for combination ICS/LABA inhalers without a prior script for a standalone ICS, fell from 7.2 per 1000 children aged 3-5 in 2013 to just 1.7 per 1000 in 2018. And scripts for children aged 12 months to two years fell from 2.1/1000 children to 0.5/1000.

“It’s a really good news story, especially as use was trending up all around the world,” said coauthor Professor Adam Jaffe, a paediatric respiratory physician from UNSW Sydney.