Inhaled therapy for asthma

Abstract

Inhaled therapy is key to the successful treatment of asthma. National guidelines provide us with the aim of asthma management, which is to maintain control of the disease. The correct combination of drug and device can be individually tailored to the patient. Drugs consist of bronchodilators and anti-inflammatories. Devices consist of aerosol inhalers, also known as pressurised metered dose inhalers, and dry powder inhalers. Both the drug and the device need to be prescribed if the treatment is to be clinically effective. A combination of inhaled steroid with long-acting B2 agonist is one of the most clinically effective ways of delivering asthma treatment. This can be prescribed either as a fixed daily dose with a concomitant short-acting B2 agonist as a reliever, or as maintenance and reliever therapy, which has been shown to improve asthma control and reduce exacerbations.