~~~~~~ Senior Solutions ~~~~~~
Coronary Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Asthma Sufferers
Do You Regularly Use an Inhaler?
July 7, 2006
If you have been using inhalers to help you breathe easier, whether related to COPD or asthma, you might be interested in finding out what recent study statistics have revealed. Information from the study was reviewed by Cornell and Stanford Universities. You can go to the Cornell University web site and click on research to find out more.
Visitors to the Senior Solutions of Pinellas County web site realize that I am interested in preventing unnecessary problems from occurring, and in taking a proactive approach in dealing with age related problems. I'm hoping that readers will keep the following information in mind and discuss its possibilities with their primary care doctors, or pulmonologists. Without medical research we wouldn't find ways to cure diseases, or improve treatment regimes.
The study shows that the family of commonly prescribed inhalers used in treating COPD and asthma, is not as effective as a different family of inhalers which is prescribed far less frequently. By far less frequently, I mean less than 5% of the time according to the study report.
From these studies, statistics show that people using the most frequently prescribed family of inhalers had more hospitalizations and deaths than did people using the less frequently prescribed family of inhalers. The less prescribed inhalers come from the anticholinergic family, whereas the most prevalently prescribed inhalers come from the beta-agonist family.
To make it easier to understand, I've seen many of the frequently prescribed inhalers advertised on tv and in magazines. You've probably seen the ads too. Like other commonly advertised medicines, they probably advise you to "Ask your doctor". According to the Cornell University Chronicle Online article posted June 29, 2006, some of these inhaler medicines are: Alupent, Foradil, Serevent, Advair, Proventil, Ventolin, Volmax, and others.
We'd all like our lives to be easier so if you use an inhaler or love someone who uses an inhaler, I urge you to read the above mentioned article on the Cornell web site, and do as they say on tv, "Ask your doctor". Your doctor might even appreciate a printout of this important information. With so many medications on the market and so much research taking place, it's hard for anyone to keep up with. You and your doctor may be able to save someone from an unnecessary hospital stay, or worse.
For your convenience, click on the link below to access the above mentioned article written by Krishna Ramanujan at click here: