Observational studyBMJ open2024
SABA prescriptions and asthma management practices in Singapore: results from a cross-sectional, observational SABINA III study.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03857178 (A Multi-country Study on the Prescription Patterns of Short Acting Beta-2 Agonist), which is not on this map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Multi-country Study on the Prescription Patterns of Short Acting Beta-2 Agonist (SABA) and Its Potential Effects on Asthma Control: A Cross-Sectional Study on SABA Use in Asthma
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Projecting the 20-year healthcare resource burden of asthma and COPD multimorbidity: insights from Singapore for integrated chronic respiratory care in South-East Asia.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2026Article
- Economic burden of asthma multimorbidity in Singapore: Shadow costs of steroid use.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2025Article
- Over-reliance on short-acting beta-agonists (SABAs) in asthma: a mixed method study, in primary care, in Greece.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2025Article
- Guideline-based asthma treatment in Asia: Insights from a robust time-in-state model.The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Global · 2025Article
- Environmental sustainability in asthma: reducing carbon footprint and medication wastage.Allergy, asthma, and clinical immunology : official journal of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2025Article
- Carbon emissions from the increasing use of inhaled corticosteroid-LABA medications: a primary care used case from Singapore.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2025Article
- Asthma prescribing trends, inhaler adherence and outcomes: a Real-World Data analysis of a multi-ethnic Asian Asthma population.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo evaluate asthma characteristics and treatment patterns, including short-acting β
designCross-sectional, observational study.
settingMulticentre study conducted at five sites across Singapore.
methodsIn patients with asthma (aged ≥12 years), data on demographics, disease characteristics and asthma treatment prescriptions were collected using electronic case report forms. Patients were classified by investigator-defined asthma severity (guided by 2017 Global Initiative for Asthma recommendations) and practice type (primary/specialist care).
resultsOf the 205 patients analysed (mean (SD) age, 53.6 (16.8) years; female, 62%), 55.9% were enrolled by specialists and 44.1% by primary care physicians. Most study patients (80.5%) had moderate-to-severe asthma (86.0% in specialist care and 74.4% in primary care). In the 12 months before study enrolment, 18.0% of patients experienced ≥1 severe exacerbation. Asthma was well or partly controlled in 78.0% of patients. Overall, 17.1% of all patients were overprescribed SABA (≥3 SABA canisters/year) in the preceding 12 months, and overprescription was greater in specialist versus primary care (26.3% vs 5.6%). Only 2.9% of patients were prescribed SABA monotherapy, while 41.0% received SABA in addition to maintenance therapy. Among the latter, 40.5% were overprescribed SABA. Overall, a higher percentage of patients prescribed ≥3 SABA canisters (vs 0-2 SABA canisters) were assessed as having uncontrolled asthma during the study visit (42.9% vs 17.6%). Maintenance therapy in the form of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) or ICS/long-acting β
conclusionsIn this Singapore cohort, ~17% of all patients and more than 40% of patients prescribed SABA in addition to maintenance therapy were overprescribed SABA. These findings emphasise the need to align clinical practices with the latest evidence-based treatment recommendations.
trial registrationNCT03857178.
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