New Aussie asthma guidelines eliminate SABA-only treatment option for adults and teens
The new guidelines follow a years-long move to treatment with ICS.
Every adult and adolescent with asthma should be treated with inhaled corticosteroids, new Australian guidelines say.
The cohort of patients recommended solely to use short-acting beta2 agonists (SABAs) had been shrinking over recent years as doctors moved towards maintenance-and-reliever therapy (MART) or anti-inflammatory reliever treatment.
This week, the National Asthma Council (NAC) handbook finally declared that SABA-only treatment was “now considered inadequate treatment” for all adults and adolescents.
It reflected international consensus that asthma treatment should address underlying inflammation, said GP Professor Nick Zwar, chair of the NAC Guidelines Committee.
