Patterns of Asthma Medication Use in New Zealand After Publication of National Asthma Guidelines

Abstract

Background: In June 2020, the New Zealand (NZ) adolescent and adult asthma guidelines recommended budesonide/formoterol, taken as maintenance and/or reliever therapy, as the preferred therapeutic approach. Objective: To investigate whether these recommendations were associated with changes in clinical practice indicated by asthma medication use trends. Methods: NZ national dispensing data for inhaler medications from January 2010 to December 2021 were reviewed. Monthly “dispensings” of inhaled budesonide/formoterol, inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), other ICS/long-acting β2-agonists (LABA), and inhaled short-acting β2-agonists (SABA), for the 12+ age group, were displayed graphically with piecewise regression used to produce plots of rates by time with a July 1, 2020, break point. The number of dispensings in the last 6 months that data were available (July-December 2021) was compared with the corresponding period, July-December 2019. Results: Budesonide/formoterol dispensing increased markedly after July 1, 2020 (regression coefficient 41.1 inhalers dispensed/100,000 population per month [95% confidence interval (CI): 36.3-45.6, P