Asthma medication unaffordable for many sufferers, says study

Poverty is preventing low-income families across Australia from using prescribed medical treatments for asthma, a national study involving three universities has found.

A survey of around 1,400 people with asthma found that half of the adults and one-third of children taking part in the study were decreasing or skipping doses of essential asthma medicines to make them last longer.

The worst-affected were “working poor families” who could not afford the out-of-pocket expenses for treatments such as inhalers and corticosteroids.