More Work Needed on Causes and Treatment of Asthma in Older Australians

The current issue of the Medical Journal of Australia includes a supplement, Asthma in the Older Australian. The supplement features thirteen papers presented at the Macquarie Bank Asthma Australia Research Colloquium held in October 2004.

"The conference brought together leading medical researchers, academics, physicians, general practitioners and government and consumer representatives from around Australia," says Peter Adamson, President of the Asthma Foundations of Australia.

"It highlighted the current gaps in information, management and service provision, targeted specifically to the needs of older Australians.

Key recommendations from the conference include:

• Increasing awareness and understanding of asthma in older Australians and their families
• Improving accuracy of asthma diagnosis in older people in the general practice setting
• Increasing provision of specific tailored asthma management and care of older people, and
• Building the capacity and confidence of older people with asthma to self-manage their illness.

Mr Adamson says older people should be involved from the start in developing policies and research, voicing their concerns and pinpointing the barriers that prevent them from accessing services.

The "Healthy Ageing, Health Airways" working party will develop the work started at the conference.

Central to future research is the need to better understand how the lung ages, the nature of airway disease in older people, the impact of age and comorbidity on asthma, and the need to improve diagnosis of asthma in older people.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

CONTACT Nick BLESZYNSKI, Asthma Foundations Media, 02 9018 0512 / 0403 931 291

Judith TOKLEY, AMA Public Affairs, 0408 824 306 / 02 6270 5471