Cost considerations of therapeutic options for children with asthma.

Asthma is a prevalent health condition in children, with economic implications for the individual and their family, as well as for societies with nationalized healthcare. Pharmaceutical cost is the main driver of healthcare expenditure in asthma. Existent explicit guidelines are meant to guide asthma management across all age groups, but they are failing. Pharmacologic management of asthma consists of a stepwise treatment approach to achieve symptom control. Various studies suggest a significant number of medical practitioners are prescribing inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and ICS/long-acting beta agonist (LABA) combination inhalers inappropriately, including prescribing high doses of ICS without specialist consultation. ICS/LABA combination inhalers should only be used in persistent asthmatics, which account for approximately 5% of all children with asthma. Despite this, there is an increase in prescribing rates of ICS/LABA combination inhalers in the context of a decrease in the prevalence of asthma. Furthermore, there is inappropriate prescribing of ICS/LABA combination inhalers in children under 5 years of age, and initiation of relatively more expensive ICS/LABA combination inhalers in patients who have not previously been prescribed ICS. There is evidence to suggest that cost is a significant barrier to asthma management, especially for the more expensive ICS/LABA combination inhalers. Hence, prescribing cost-effective asthma medications appropriately is one of the most important strategies in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with asthma. It is incumbent on every medical practitioner to not prescribe expensive medications if not indicated, both for the sake of the patient and for society.