Management and treatment perceptions among young adults with asthma in Melbourne: The Australian experience from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey

Objectives: As part of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) in 1992–1993 we assessed management practices and treatment perceptions among young asthmatic adults in Melbourne, Australia. Methodology: We conducted a postal questionnaire survey of 4500 randomly selected adults (aged 20–44 years), drawn from three electoral districts, of whom 3200 (71%) subjects responded. A randomly selected sample of 1642 respondents, ‘enriched’ by a further 433 symptomatic subjects, was invited to complete a second phase respiratory questionnaire. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 757 subjects who underwent laboratory testing. A further 119 subjects who were unable to attend the laboratory completed an identical questionnaire by telephone interview (42% response rate). In the second phase, 16% of subjects reported ‘current asthma’ (group I) as defined by physician confirmation and a recent attack (within 1 year), 10% had confirmed asthma but reported no recent attack (group II) and 74% did not have asthma (group III). Inhaled corticosteroid use was significantly higher in group I than in group II subjects (45%vs 24%, P < 0.01), but only 11% of asthmatic subjects overall reported daily prophylactic use. Regular treatment in any form was considered to be ‘bad’ by 65% of asthmatic subjects and only 43% took medication as prescribed all of the time. Conclusion: Despite national education campaigns, the majority of young asthmatic adults in Melbourne did not adhere to prescribed treatment, but continued to rely upon β2‐agonists alone with neglect of regular inhaled corticosteroid which has probably contributed to Australia's continued high asthma morbidity and mortality rates.