Are you using the right inhaler?

Renowned New Zealand Respiratory Physician, Associate Professor Jeff Garrett, talks about the importance of treating the whole lung and targeting small airways inflammation for better asthma management and control, covering the following important issues:

•It's very important to treat the whole lung, particularly where you suspect that there is small airways inflammation.

•If someone has nocturnal (or night) asthma, exercise induced asthma, allergy induced asthma, or they have experienced more than two asthma attacks a year, it is likely that they have small airways inflammation.

•Small airways make up 99% of the volume of the lung and are not reached by standard preventer inhalers, but they are reached by extrafine preventer inhalers.

•Several recent clinical and real world studies have confirmed that treatment of asthma with extrafine preventer inhalers is associated with better asthma control than comparable standard preventer inhalers.

•Extrafine preventer inhalers produce very small particles of medicine that are small enough to reach these very small outer airways.

•Most people assume that their current asthma inhaler is reaching and treating their whole lung, but most likely it's not because most people are on standard preventer inhalers, and these types of inhalers cannot reach the small airways.

•Extrafine preventer inhalers are an appropriate option for anyone with asthma requiring inhaled preventer therapy.

•Patients should ask their doctor whether an extrafine preventer inhaler is something that they could benefit from, particularly if they have the symptoms described above.

•Extra fine preventer inhalers are also a very good option for children 5 year and older as they can be prescribed a lower dose of steroid medicine.