October 10, 2014
Smart move needed on Maori asthma
A health conference has heard that getting Maori asthma sufferers onto a new prevention regime could cut hospital admissions and save money across the system.
Maori health researcher Dr Matire Harwood told the Breath of Hope – New Zealand Respiratory Conference in Wellington yesterday that a study of the SMART regime found Maori on it were less likely to have a severe attack resulting in hospitalisation and did not need to use other medication.
Maori are currently three times as likely to be hospitalised with asthma than non-Maori.
SMART, or Single inhaler maintenance and reliever therapy, gives sufferers one inhaler containing two of the main drugs used to treat the condition.
Dr Harwood says the SMART regime needs to be better promoted to GPs to encourage uptake for Maori clients.
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