DDHK. ORG – Currently the use of inhalers is very common among people with asthma. But apparently, excessive use actually raises the risk of increasing asthma attack.
As reported Republic, AstraZeneca Medical Director Indonesia, Dr. Feddy said there had been significant changes in the last 30 years regarding the guidelines for managing asthma from the Global Initiatives for Asthma (GINA). The 2019 GINA guidelines no longer recommend the use of short-acting beta-2 agonist (SABA) inhalers, such as salbutamol, as a sole therapy for asthma attacks.
"Until now it has been strengthened through a global study that has been issued in 2020 where Indonesia is part of it," said Dr. Feddy in Jakarta, Wednesday (10/5/2023).
In the SABA use IN Asthma (SABINA) program in Indonesia it was also shown that the use of SABA for asthma actually increases its own risk. Overuse of SABA has been shown to pose a severe risk in asthma.
Doctor Feddy said that it turns out that using four to six canisters of SABA can increase asthma attacks by 25 percent. Using six to 10 canisters can increase attack by 67 percent.
"And more than 20 or 11 canisters and above increases the risk of severe asthma two and a half times," said Dr. Feddy.
According to Dr. Feddy, this is also the basis for changing the GINA guidelines. Meanwhile, a study in Indonesia, namely SABINA, showed that 37 percent of patients in Indonesia used SABA more than three canisters per year.
Another trend is that people often buy their own medicines without a doctor's supervision. For the SABA dependency test, AstraZeneca introduced the stopkedependenan.id website.
There, people can see how high the risk of severe asthma is due to SABA dependence. This examination test can also be used by medical personnel and people with asthma. Site users can find out more about the danger level of SABA when used in excess.
"We also provide BPJS for medicine, we try to make it open to all people. The uncontrolled weight category is being registered," said Dr. Feddy.
The latest GINA guidelines are also based on scientific evidence that the use of a single SABA is not capable of providing protection for sufferers from severe asthma exacerbations. Long-term use of a single SABA, either regularly or frequently, can increase the risk of recurrence.
Asthma sufferers must be increasingly aware of the importance of controlling drugs, not just SABA type drugs. When you finish using the reliever medication and there are no attacks, you should get a second drug, namely a controller based on a long-acting beta-agonist (LABA), so that the disease is better controlled in the long term. [DDHK News]
