Asthmatics receive warning over drug risk

ASTHMA sufferers have been warned that they could be risking their lives by using drugs that treat the most severe form of the disease.

It is reckoned that around 30% of the estimated 470,000 people with asthma in Ireland may be at an increased risk of severe attacks and even death if they use a popular long-acting drug on its own.

Asthma experts have called on the European Medicines Agency to warn against the danger of long-acting beta-agonist (LABA) drugs.

Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, British respiratory expert, Dr Vassilis Vassiliou warned that LABA drugs, such as salmeterol and formoterol, should not be used on their own and were safe only when used in conjunction with a steroid inhaler.

The doctor is concerned that an increasing number of chronic asthma sufferers are using the drugs as a single treatment.

There are up to 100 deaths from asthma in Ireland every year and the Asthma Society of Ireland believes the Government should make the condition a notifiable disease.

Irish respiratory consultant and chair of the society’s medical committee, Dr Pat Manning, said LABA drugs that have been available for more than 20 years should only be used in combination with an inhaled steroid.

Dr Manning said there was now major concern over overuse of LABA drugs on their own because of their potential effects.

Dr Manning also stressed that the drug when combined with an inhaled steroid was a safer way to treat asthma and worked very well. “The medication is safe when used appropriately,” he stressed.

He also advised that anyone using the short-acting or long acting beta-agonist reliever more than two to three times a week should really see their doctor to have their condition reviewed.

Dr Manning said asthma was an inflammatory disease of the airways and should be treated as such, particularly by those whose condition was more severe.

The Irish Asthma Society’s freefone number is 1850 445464 and their website is www.asthmasociety.ie.