Adherence to management guidelines for childhood asthma in Australia

Background: Little is known about doctors’ treatment preferences for childhood asthma.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate adherence to management guidelines for childhood asthma.

Methods: One thousand general practitioners (GPs) and paediatric specialists in Australia were invited to take part in a survey, which collected demographic details and explored their familiarity with and adherence to childhood asthma management guidelines.

Results: Two hundred doctors (20% response rate) responded and were eligible for inclusion in the survey. Approximately half (54.5%) of the respondents were very familiar with at least one of the childhood asthma management guidelines. The majority of respondents (86.8%) followed guideline recommendations when prescribing initial maintenance therapy for childhood asthma, while 89.2% and 68.0% followed guideline recommendations regarding step-up and step-down therapy respectively.

Discussion: Overall familiarity with childhood asthma management guidelines could be improved. There is scope for improvement in the adherence to these guidelines when prescribing medication in childhood asthma, particularly for step-down therapy.