General practitioners are seeing people less often for
management of asthma problems according to a new report released
today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
General Practice Activity in Australia 2000-01 is based
on an ongoing survey of 100,000 doctor-patient encounters from a
random sample of 1000 GPs a year. It gives an insight into why
people visit their GP, health problems managed, and types of
treatments received. Trends in general practice activity over the
last three years are covered for the first time in this year's
report.
The report shows that GPs Australia-wide had 360,000 fewer
consultations for asthma-related problems in 2000-01 than in either
of the previous two years, and there was an accompanying drop in
the overall rate of treatment with asthma inhalants.
Consultations for acute bronchitis also dropped, by about
280,000 consultations annually.
Director of the AIHW's General Practice Statistics and
Classification Unit at the University of Sydney, Professor Helena
Britt, said that because new presentations for asthma had remained
steady, it appeared that patients were returning less frequently
than before for ongoing asthma management.
'We can't tell whether this is due to a drop in prevalence of
asthma or a drop in GP consultations resulting from better asthma
control', Dr Britt said.
General Practice Activity in Australia 2000-01 shows
significant increases in rates of treatment with non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and lipid-lowering agents.
Dr Britt said that the increase in prescription of NSAIDs was
almost entirely explained by an increase in prescriptions of drugs
known as coxibs, usually for the treatment of arthritic pain. In
many cases coxibs were prescribed for patients not currently on
other NSAIDs, perhaps because of their possible side effects.
The increase in prescription of lipid-lowering agents
(principally for control of blood cholesterol levels) parallels a
significant rise in the rate of management of lipid disorders over
the last 3 years.
'GPs are now managing lipid problems on an additional 400,000
occasions every year', Professor Britt said. 'This overall increase
appears to be a combination of a steady number of new cases and a
growing pool of patients continuing on long-term therapy.'
Other findings from the report include:
- an increase of 2% over the last two years in the number of
patients diagnosed as either obese or overweight.
- no rise in the number of consultations for depression over the
last three years after a marked rise between 1990 and 1998.
12 December 2001
Further information:
A/Professor Helena Britt, tel. (02) 9845 8150 (wk)
or 0411 197 938 (mobile)
Media copies of report: Publications Officer, AIHW tel.
(02) 6244 1032, OR
Media Office, University of Sydney, 02 9351
2261.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability.