UK asthma death rates among the worst in Europe

Britain’s asthma death rate is now among the worst in Europe with a 20 per cent rise in deaths in five  years, research shows.

Experts said a lack of basic checks was leading to hundreds of deaths in Britain, two in three of which could have been prevented with the right care.

The analysis shows the UK rates are the fourth worst in the European Union, with 1, 434 deaths a year.

The rate is almost 50 per cent higher than the EU average, with only Estonia, Spain and Cyprus faring worse.

Experts said Britain’s figures were “truly shocking” and had deteriorated by 20 per cent in five years.

Asthma UK said their research found 65 per cent of people with the condition are not receiving the basic care they need, such as yearly review, checks to ensure they are using their inhaler properly and an asthma action plan.

In 2014, a national review found that two thirds of asthma deaths – and nine in ten of those involving children – could have been prevented with the right care.

Around 5 million people suffer from asthma in the UK.

Dr Samantha Walker, Director of Research and Policy at Asthma UK, says: “It is truly shocking that so many people in the UK are dying from asthma attacks and while other countries are improving, we are lagging behind.”

She said lack of awareness that asthma can be fatal meant it was not taken seriously enough.

“While we don’t know for sure why the UK is performing so poorly in preventing deaths from asthma, we think a lack of understanding could play a part,” she said.

“Asthma kills and we are urging the NHS to invest in better frontline asthma services, for people with asthma to make sure they take their medication properly, and for healthcare professionals to take asthma seriously, diagnose asthma patients effectively and treat them promptly.”

Overall, the rate of asthma deaths in the UK was 2.21 per 100,000 people in 2015, a rise from 1.83 in 2011. The average rate over the period was 1.98 per 100,000, compared with an EU average of 1.32.  The lowest rates were found in the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Greece, with rates of 0.56, 0.52 and 0.15 per 100,000 people respectively.

In 2014 an audit of asthma deaths led by the Royal College of Physicians, found that two thirds of deaths from the condition – including almost all of those involving children – might have been prevented.

Too many GPs were prescribing patients with the wrong medication in an attempt to keep down costs, the research found.

Commonly, they were found to be giving sufferers only the blue “reliever” inhalers but not the brown “preventive” inhalers, which contain low doses of steroids and are prescribed to stop attacks.

The research found failings in 83 per cent of cases with “major avoidable factors” in 66 per cent of them. Nine out of 10 of the deaths of children could potentially have been avoided, it concluded.

Care of those with asthma was frequently delegated to practice nurses without training in it, the review found.

The report’s authors said complacency about the condition meant too many clinical staff were not aware of its risks, and failed to act on clear signs that the condition was becoming worse.

Experts said clear signs that patients were deteriorating repeatedly missed by GPs and hospitals.

Half of those who died from asthma had previously been admitted to hospital for their condition, and one third had been to accident and emergency departments because of attacks in the previous year, the report found.

Yet most were not under the care of a specialist, and almost half of cases had not had their care reviewed by their GP in the year before they died.

The audit found a failure to act on signs that the condition was out of control. Forty percent of those who died had been being prescribed high numbers of reliever inhalers, which are only supposed to be used two or three times a week. - The Telegraph