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P67 What proportion of patients attending A&E with acute asthma could be discharged on MART/AIR?

thoraxjnl · 2025-11-02 · canonical JSON source

19 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Introduction New NICE/BTS/SIGN guidelines recommend patients with uncontrolled asthma switch to AIR/MART regimens except those on high-dose inhaled corticosteroids who need specialist review. Most inhaler changes are expected to occur in primary care, however, some patients rely on Emergency Departments (EDs) and Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) for their asthma care to the exclusion of attending their GP. Maximising this opportunity is important, however, our previous research has identified that EDs will need planning and clear guidance to undertake inhaler changes.Objectives To inform and prior to implementation of NICE-compliant local guidelines we reviewed all patients attending three acute hospitals EDs and co-located UTCs with acute asthma to assess the proportion that would be suitable for switching to AIR/MART.Methods An electronic search of medical records followed by clinician review of identified medical records.Results An electronic search of medical records identified 1320 potential asthma ED attendances between 9th January 2024 and 9th June 2024 inclusive. On clinician review, 755 attendances were confirmed to be for an exacerbation of an established diagnosis of asthma and where the patient did not self-discharge.565 (75%) of these attendances were managed without hospital admission. Of the 565 patients, at least 6 months of prior primary care prescription records were available for 417 (74%) patients. Over that period 121 (29%) patients had had no ICS prescribed, 104 (25%) had had a high-dose ICS-LABA prescribed (49 (12%) with prescription possession ratio for ICS <75%), with the remaining 192 (46%) patients being prescribed low to medium strength ICS (20 with at least 1 AIR/MART prescription).210 (37%) patients were discharged from ED with a SABA reliever (including 10 patients potentially on MART), 1 (<1%) patient with an anti-inflammatory reliever and 1 (<1%) patient with both SABA and anti-inflammatory relievers. Of the 190 patients discharged home after admission, 17 (9%) patients were discharged with an anti-inflammatory reliever though in 4 of those cases also with a SABA reliever.Conclusions The majority (87%) of patients attending EDs and UTCs with acute asthma would be suitable to receive an anti-inflammatory reliever on discharge as part of an AIR/MART inhaler regimen.