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Reducing ethnic inequities: Patterns of asthma medication use and hospital discharges in Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand
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February 2025
Authors: Allie Eathorne, Jonathan Noble, Lee Hatter, Tom Hills, Selwyn Te Paa, Matire Harwood, Mark Weatherall, Richard Beasley
Comment by Mark Lavercombe: The worldwide shift towards using LABA/ICS for maintenance and reliever therapy (MART) in asthma is explored in this paper from New Zealand, which evaluates prescribing patterns over eleven years from 2013. The authors demonstrate a dramatic increase in the prescription of budesonide/formoterol since 2019 associated with a significant reduction in asthma discharges from hospital. The indigenous Māori population had asthma admissions rates 2.5 times higher than non-Māori, and budesonide/formoterol MART improved asthma symptoms and reduced asthma hospitalisations more in this group than in non-Māori.
Medical Education Editor for Respirology
Dr Mark Lavercombe was appointed in this specialist editor role in 2021 to further expand and strengthen Respirology’s contribution to medical education.
Located in Melbourne, Australia, he works as a clinician in respiratory health and sleep disorders at Western Health and is affiliated with The University of Melbourne as a distinguished expert in medical education.
He became a member of our Editorial Board in 2016 with the responsibility of selecting new Respirology publications with educational value, which has grown into a curated article selection featured on this page, as a benefit to APSR members.
Dr Lavercombe also authors a column in Respirology on his most recent choices and their specific value to continued medical education for our readers around the world.
