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General practitioners (GPs) play a central role in the management of asthma in the community.

This role includes assessment, prescription of regular medications, education and review as well as managing acute exacerbations.

Asthma-related visits to GPs may occur for a variety of reasons, including:

  • the acute or reactive management of asthma symptoms
  • a review during or following an acute episode
  • a visit for maintenance activities, such as monitoring and prescription of regular medications.

The rate of general practice visits for asthma decreased between 1998–99 and 2009–10. The largest reduction has been among children, where the rate fell by around 43%.

The rate among adults declined less (39%) and stayed at around 10 encounters for asthma per 100 population during the most recent 5 years.

gps

Notes
1. Asthma classified according to International Classification of Primary Care, 2nd edition (ICPC-2) code R96.
2. The method for calculating rates per 100 population are described in Appendix 1.3 of Asthma in Australia 2011.
3. BEACH year is April to March.
4. The thin vertical bars attached to the top of each column are 95% confidence intervals. We can be 95% confident that the true value is within the interval depicted.

Source: Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring analysis of the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) survey of general practice.

Source tables

General practice visits for asthma (a) per 100 population (b), adults and children, April 1998 to March 2009
BEACH year (c) Children (0–14 years) Adults (15+ years)
Visits 95% CI Visits 95% CI
1998–99 29.7 26.8–32.7 14.0 13.0–14.9
1999–00 26.8 24.0–29.7 14.9 14.0–15.8
2000–01 23.2 20.9–25.5 12.8 12.0–13.6
2001–02 21.4 19.1–23.8 12.9 12.0–13.8
2002–03 19.5 17.5–21.6 12.2 11.4–13.1
2003–04 19.2 17.2–21.2 10.9 10.1–11.6
2004–05 16.5 14.8–18.3 9.8 9.2–10.5
2005–06 17.0 15.1–19.0 9.2 8.6–9.9
2006–07 14.8 13.0–16.6 9.5 8.8–10.2
2007–08 18.6 16.5–20.7 10.5 9.8–11.2
2008–09 16.8 15.1–18.5 9.1 8.5–9.8
2009–10 16.9 14.4–19.4 8.6 7.7–9.4

(a) Asthma classified according to International Classification of Primary Care, 2nd edition (ICPC-2) code R96.
(b) The method for calculating rates per 100 population are described in Appendix 1.3 of Asthma in Australia 2011.
(c) BEACH year is April to March.

Source: Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring analysis of the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) survey of general practice.