Among Americans with severe asthma, less than one-half see a specialist to manage their condition, according to a study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. To discover how many people with severe asthma see a specialist, researchers exam- ined insurance data from more than 54,000 patients aged 6 and older. Only 38% saw an allergist/immunologist or a pulmonologist at least once in the year before or after the first observation of severe asthma, the investigators found. An analysis of a smaller group of near- ly 6,000 patients showed that controller medi- cation fills and prescriptions for biologic medi- cations were higher for those seeing a specialist. After a specialist visit, the researchers write, asthma attacks were much lower (about 38% vs 49%). Hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and use of rescue inhalers also were lower for patients during the 12 months after their first visit to a specialist. The researchers also observed that patients with other non-respiratory health conditions, those aged 65 and older, and males were less likely to seek specialist care.
