Current opinion: Pharmacological approaches in asthma and COPD

Abstract

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Change in asthma and COPD prescribing by Italian general practitioners between 2006 and 2008

“…The software system codes all the diagnostic records by using the Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). 7 Prescription records are also coded according to the anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) classification system. Data are recorded in the HSD with the consent of the patient, lawfully stored, managed according to privacy rules, and can be used for scientific studies without any further authorisation from an ethics committee.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] However, although the medications used for both conditions are similar, the goals and targets of therapy are different. 5,6 In general, therapy for asthma is mainly targeted at reducing inflammation, 1,2 whereas for COPD treatment is mainly directed at relief of symptoms. 3,4 Furthermore, despite their different pathophysiology, asthma and COPD have certain similarities and it is sometimes not easy to differentiate between them especially in patients over the age of 40 or in those patients with spirometry that shows incomplete reversibility.…”

“…Various studies have confirmed that for both asthma and COPD there are problems with underdiagnosis, wrong diagnosis, a high percentage of patients with overlapping symptoms, and little observance of good clinical practice guidelines. [7][8][9] This is important, because a misdiagnosis of asthma or COPD leads to inadequate patient management and escalating healthcare costs. Asthma and COPD still remain underdiagnosed and under-or badly treated worldwide, [9][10][11][12][13][14] and there remains a substantial discrepancy between the actual care provided and guideline-defined best treatment in patients with mild to moderate asthma or COPD in primary care.…”