Asthma is increasingly recognised as a heterogeneous disease, with several phenotypes defined by clinical and inflammatory characteristics. Common phenotypes include allergic (eosinophilic, IgE-mediated), non-allergic (often neutrophilic or paucigranulocytic), late-onset adult asthma, obesity-associated asthma, and asthma with persistent airflow limitation.14 Identifying phenotypes supports individualised treatment strategies, particularly in those with severe asthma, and better long-term outcomes.
Steps 2 and 3: Maintenance and reliever therapy (MART)
Comorbid conditions can complicate asthma management. Assess for and help address factors such as allergic rhinitis, which affects up to 80% of people with asthma,24 as well as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), anxiety, depression, obstructive sleep apnoea and smoking.
Transforming medicine safety in aged care
PSA’s 2025 Early Career Pharmacist of the Year, Dr Kate Wang is shaping pharmacy education and aged care policy.
Choosing wisely: sedatives
In the third of a six-part series, we expand on the PSA Choosing Wisely recommendations, taking a closer look at the use of sedatives....
Taking care: the different areas of medicine safety
In its landmark Medicine Safety: Take Care report, PSA identified the frightening cost of medicine misadventure in Australia. With medicines safety a central theme...
HMR in remote Indigenous communities
Providing Home Medicines Reviews (HMR) in remote Indigenous communities has been challenging yet rewarding. I feel privileged to have been able to experience the...
Experts urge support for PrEP after second Australian HIV case
Experts are emphasising the efficacy of the revolutionary pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medicine after a recent case of a Sydney man contracting HIV while taking...
Australian asthma deaths fall, mostly in women: ABS
The National Asthma Council has highlighted the vital role community pharmacists can play in identifying at-risk patients, following a drop in overall asthma deaths...
