Asthma medication in Dutch primary care: asthma medication use and its relation with asthma outcomes.

This study provides insight into the medication use of patients with asthma in Dutch primary care. It also provides insight into the relationship between asthma patients’ adherence to inhaled medication and asthma outcomes (i.e. exacerbations, indicated by a prescription for a short oral corticosteroids course, and self-reported asthma control), in relation to the severity of the illness (based on the classification proposed by the Global Initiative for Asthma).

We used data derived from the Nivel Primary Care Database, which includes routine care data originating from electronic medical records from general practitioners across the Netherlands.