Health professionals will be given a sneak peek at the new national guidelines for asthma management in primary care for adults and adolescents at a Praxhub webinar on Tuesday 18 March.
Essential viewing for all primary care professionals, the webinar will provide the first opportunity to learn about major updates that will be included in the latest version of the National Asthma Council Australia (NAC) Australian Asthma Handbook and new website to be released in June 2025.
As part of the review process, the NAC Guidelines Committee* undertook an extensive overview of the latest asthma guidelines from around the world and the outcome is practical recommendations for Australian primary care based on the best available evidence.
Clinical Associate Professor Debbie Rigby, pharmacist and Clinical Executive Lead, NAC, said the revised Australian Asthma Handbook now recommends anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR) only therapy or maintenance-and-reliever therapy (MART) for adults and adolescents.
“The most critical take-home message for health professionals is to prescribe anti-inflammatory treatment from day one when it comes to asthma in adults and adolescents.
“The NAC is calling on all health professionals to stop prescribing or advising treatment with as-needed short-acting beta2 agonists (SABA) alone to manage asthma in adults and adolescents – inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are indicated for all adults and adolescents with asthma.
“We know that many Australians are managing their own asthma just with over-the-counter salbutamol, even though it is no longer recommended in guidelines for prescribers.
“As-needed SABA alone is inadequate treatment for asthma in adults or adolescents and is associated with a higher risk of severe asthma exacerbations, compared with low dose ICS-containing treatment,” she said.
During the webinar Clinical Associate Professor Rigby will outline the risks of overreliance on SABA reliever with no anti-inflammatory treatment to manage the underlying disease and just how few 200-dose SABA canisters in one year is associated with increased risk of asthma-related death.
The webinar will also outline why health professionals should consider the environmental impact of inhalers when prescribing and when discussing treatment options with patients and how they can help to reduce the considerable environmental impact of sub-optimal asthma management.
Clinical Associate Professor Rigby will be joined by consultant paediatrician Dr Mike Forrester and leading GP educator Dr Anita Muñoz for the webinar and there will be a live Q&A segment with the expert panel.
Date: Tuesday 18 March 2025
Time: 7.30pm - 9pm AEDT
* The NAC Guidelines Committee is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of leading health professionals dedicated to asthma, including primary care clinicians and respiratory specialists.
For further information or an interview with a NAC spokesperson, please contact:
Donna Le Page, Le Page PR
Mobile: 0429 825 703 or Email: [email protected]
