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.
Calculating the risk of glaucoma
More than 1000 people have completed an online assessment in Australian pharmacies to determine their potential risk of developing glaucoma, and there's a call...
From the President: pharmacist prescribing
Prescribing is more than just putting pen to paper – but falls well within pharmacists’ scope of practice.
Adding prescribing to the repertoire of the...
Opioid replacement therapy – supporting treatment
Drug dependence, including opioid dependence, involves a complex interplay of social, psychological and biological factors.
Learning objectives
After reading this article, pharmacists should be able...
Indirect impacts of COVID-19
Australia has had relative success in suppressing the COVID-19 virus, but there continues to be myriad ongoing and wide ranging indirect impacts.
PSA’s critical role in 7CPA in spotlight
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has asserted the critical role that PSA will play in drafting the 7th Community Pharmacy Agreement (CPA), shaping the...
Bringing pharmacists into the digital future
PSA has unveiled a new digital health report, Connecting the dots: Digitally empowered pharmacists, at the PSA19 conference.
The report, funded by the Australian Digital...
