Asthma: do follow your treatment!

"Most patients with asthma do not follow their medication seriously," said Dr. Liam Heaney, one of the authors of the study, researcher at the hospital in Belfast.

This treatment is mainly based on corticosteroid taken by inhalations or orally. Dr. Liam Heaney has obtained data collected on nearly 200 patients with difficulties in treatment of their asthma. He compared the drug prescriptions of patients and how they follow their treatment.

He used such data as blood levels of cortisol, a hormone secreted by the cortex, to assess how the patient followed this treatment.

35% of the 182 patients in the study took less than half of their therapy by inhalation, 21% were taking doses greater than they should have, and 45% were between half and all medications prescribed.

Patients receiving prednisolone orally had blood levels of this substance and cortisol showing that less than 45% of them did not follow their treatment properly.

Dr. Heaney has also revealed that women follow their drug treatment less than men.

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