Asthma medication use among late midlife U.S. Adults

Despite substantial prevalence of asthma, little is known about asthma in late midlife adults (50-64 years). The objective of this study was to examine the factors associated with the use of asthma medications among late midlife adults.

Pooled data were obtained from the 2006 to 2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Medication use outcome variables include: (a) daily use of a preventive asthma medication and (b) use of more than three canisters of rescue inhalers in last 3 months. The Andersen Behavioral Model of Health Services Utilization was used to guide the selection of independent variables. Descriptive, unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were performed. Point estimates were weighted to the US civilian population and variance estimates were adjusted to obtain appropriate standard errors. All analyses were conducted using STATA (version 12).

A total of 1414 (weighted sample of 15,030,364) self-reported late midlife asthmatics were identified. About 31% of late midlife adults with asthma were using a preventive medication on a daily basis while 11% reported overusing acute medications. Adjusted analyses found that race, rurality and smoking were related to poor use of asthma medications among late midlife adults.

Results suggest that asthma medication use is far from optimal among vulnerable groups of late midlife US adults.