| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was the evaluation of the extent of dissemination of asthma guidelines among primary health care physicians in Greece. Sixty-five of 80 primary care physicians (response rate 80.2%) answered a questionnaire about asthma morbidity, manner of choice of treatment and asthma management plans. One out of 12 patients who were examined by a primary care physician suffered from bronchial asthma. Forty-two physicians treated their asthma patients according to the pulmonologist's recommendations, and only 15 prescribed asthma treatment according to asthma guidelines. beta(2)-agonist inhalers and theophylline tablets represent 41% of all prescribed medicines in asthma and corticosteroid inhalers 24% of medications. Eight physicians prescribed theophylline as the first and 20 physicians corticosteroid inhalers as the third choice of medication in asthma treatment. Consequently, the prescription of beta(2)-agonist inhalers and theophylline tablets seems to be higher than asthma guidelines recommend. Better dissemination of guidelines among specialists and primary health care physicians will hopefully make asthma management optimal. | en |
