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. 1980 Mar 8;280(6215):687–690. doi: 10.1136/bmj.280.6215.687

Asthma mortality in Birmingham 1975-7: 53 deaths.

L P Ormerod, D E Stableforth
PMCID: PMC1600791  PMID: 7363023

Abstract

Out of 83 patients studied 72 were certified as dying from asthma, and 11 aged under 45 as dying from chronic bronchitis and pneumonia. Fifty-three deaths were thought to be due to asthma. There were avoidable factors associated with several of these deaths from asthma. Recent discharge from hospital (16%), non-availability of aerosol bronchodilators (45%), underuse of corticosteroids (66%), and lack of objective measurements of airflow obstruction (100%) were found in deaths outside hospital. Inadequate initial assessment including baseline spirometry and blood gases (50%), significant underusage of corticosteroids (93%) and intravenous and nebulised bronchodilators (100%), and failure to monitor treatment objectively (100%) were found in deaths in hospital. "False-positive" and "false-negative" certifications of asthma were studied, and the findings suggest that these may lead to appreciable inaccuracy in the reporting of deaths from asthma.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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