Use of anti-asthma drugs in New Zealand.

Increased sales of anti-asthma drugs, and a second "epidemic" of asthma mortality, raised concerns about the management of asthma in New Zealand. To study this, prescriptions were obtained from randomly selected pharmacies to identify 235 patients receiving one common anti-asthma drug, 175 of whom were willing to be interviewed. The authors considered that 80% had asthma, and only 20% suffered primarily from chronic bronchitis or emphysema. The …