Prescription patterns of long-acting beta agonist (LABA) monotherapy for patients with asthma

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of LABA use without controller medications, also known as monotherapy, in asthma patients across different prescriber specialties and age groups. The study identified 9,841 patients who were taking LABAs either as monotherapy or in combination with other controller medications during calendar year 2009. The percentage of those patients using LABA monotherapy was calculated by excluding patients who filled a prescription for inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) or leukotriene modifiers during the study period or three months before or after that time-frame. Physicians who prescribed the most recent LABA prescription were categorized as allergy-immunology, pulmonary, family medicine-internal medicine, pediatrics or other.

The study found the six-month prevalence of LABA monotherapy in asthma patients was 30.9% (3,043/9,841) across all physician specialties, and patients who were treated by physicians with an asthma-related specialty were 43% less likely to use LABA monotherapy than those treated by a non-asthma specialist (20.9% vs. 36.4% respectively).

The findings indicate that, despite documented physician awareness and FDA communications about the safety risks, use of LABAs without controller medications is still prevalent but less so among patients treated by asthma-related specialists.

Luis M. Salmun¹, R. Thomas Manley^2, Mark Wong^2, Haik Novshadian1 ¹Medco Health Solutions, Inc, Franklin Lakes, NJ, ² Medco Health Solutions, Inc, Spokane, WA

Based on research from the Medco Research Institute ^TM and presented at the 2010 Eastern Allergy Conference. More information about this study can be found in the attached clinical brief and press release.