Owen,
Apologies for the delay in replying.
>is there any evidence that doing spirometry on copd patients reduces
>prescribing costs;
Probably not, but it would depend on how it was done. If the idea is to find
those patients that need O2 then costs would likely increase as you have
indicated below.
>in my experience most investigations discover
>previously unmet need and increase costs eg domiciliary oxygen ,
>hospital referrals to test for steroid responsiveness
BUT how many of your COPD patients require oxygen. Is the prescribing of
inhaled steroids which have no measurable benificial effect far short of
assault? If you need a reason for taking people off of inhaled steroids then
see below. Much will depend on how you prioritise the use of spirometry.
===============================================================
>>WESTPORT, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Elderly people who use inhaled
corticosteroids at high doses or for more than 3 years are at
increased risk of undergoing cataract extraction, according to
the results of a case-control study conducted in Quebec, Canada.
As Reuters Health reported in July and November 1997, a study in
Sydney, Australia found that inhaled steroids are a risk factor
for cataract development, but one of the criticisms of the
research was that dose and duration of use were not analyzed.
The new study, conducted by a different research team, was
designed to address that limitation.
===========================================================
Regards
Jeff Green
Community Locum and Consultant Pharmacist
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