The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7199 p705-712
25 May 2002

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Parents forget to give preventer medication to child asthmatics

Parents who fail to give their asthmatic children preventer medication on time or at the right dose may be forgetful or find it hard to fit treatment into busy lives, rather than be avoiding treatment because of "steroid phobia".

Speaking at the American Thoracic Society meeting in Atlanta this week, Dr James Paton, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, reported disappointing results from an education programme designed to dispel steroid phobia. The programme, which focused around an advisory booklet and a discussion with a consultant, failed to show any improvement in adherence to timing or dosing of preventers.

At the start of the study, 29 per cent of parents gave their children, aged 18 months to five years, at least 80 per cent of their inhaled steroid medication on time and 45 per cent got the dose right at least 80 per cent of the time. But, after the education programme, there was no change in the proportion of parents giving their children their drugs on time, and the proportion of parents who dosed their children correctly at least 80 per cent of the time fell to only 20 per cent — less than that achieved by a control group who did not have the educational programme.

However, Mr Paton explained that none of the parents expressed great concerns about the side effects of steroids before or after the study. Instead, parents simply forgot treatment or were too busy to give it.

— Contributed.