C33-14 Assessing the Reliance on Prescribed Short Acting Beta Agonists (SABA) and Short-Acting Muscarinic Antagonists (SAMA) in Relation to Clinical Outcomes Among Asthma Patients in Thailand: A Retrospective Observational Study

Background Overprescribing short acting beta agonists (SABAs) raises the risk of asthma exacerbations and mortality, often due to inadequate maintenance treatment. Objective To explore the relationship between SABA or SABA/short acting muscarinic antagonists (SAMA) overprescription, moderate-to-severe asthma exacerbations rate, and their correlation with controller medication and corticosteroid use exposure. Method This observational study at Hatyai Hospital in Thailand examined SABA prescription patterns and their relation to annual moderate to severe asthma exacerbations. Continuous data were analyzed using unpaired t-tests, and categorical variables were represented as frequencies and percentages via the Chi-square test. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to assess relationships between variables. Results A total of 253 patients participated in the study, with an average age of 50.36 years, and 72.33% were female. Of these, 103 (40.71%) were in the optimal prescription group for SABA or SABA/SAMA, while 150 (59.29%) were overprescribed. The optimal group averaged 0.49 moderate to severe asthma exacerbations per year compared to 1.61 in the overprescription group (P < 0.001). Additionally, 54% of overprescribed patients had more than two episodes annually, while only 4.9% in the optimal group did (P < 0.001). The average annual dosage of oral corticosteroids was 343.6 mg in the overprescription group and 109.4 mg in the optimal group (P < 0.001). Furthermore, 95.1% of the optimal group received low doses, whereas 36.7% in the overprescription group were prescribed moderate to high doses (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the quantity of inhaled corticosteroids or ICS/long-acting beta-agonists dispensed, nor in mean blood eosinophil counts between the groups. Conclusion This study demonstrates that the overprescription of SABA or SABA/SAMA significantly elevates the incidence of asthma exacerbations and increases reliance on corticosteroids. The insights from this research can aid healthcare providers in more judiciously prescribing SABA or SABA/SAMA, which may help reduce exacerbation rates and lower corticosteroid use, thereby minimizing the risk of potential side effects. This abstract is funded by: none