USA: Price stops 1 in 6 adults with asthma from taking their life-saving medications as prescribed

The cost of medication to treat asthma, the chronic lung disease, is stopping one in six US adults from taking their medication as it has been prescribed, researchers have warned.

Furthermore, failure to stick to drug treatment was associated with nearly doubling the risk of an asthma attack and a more than 60 percent heightened risk of visiting an emergency department, they said.

“Adults with asthma who reported experiencing cost-related medication non-adherence had a higher likelihood of experiencing asthma exacerbations,” Emily Graul and Dr. Christer Janson — of the Emory University School of Medicine and Sweden’s Uppsala University, respectively — explained in an editorial article linked to the research.

Asthma can be treated using medications, lifestyle treatments, and inhalers. Inhalers are handheld devices that get medicine directly into peoples’ lungs. While Americans with asthma are more likely to have health insurance, the agency says most adults aged 18 to 64 report cost barriers.

The prices of inhaled medicines have increased by an average of 50 percent since 2009, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. The cost of inhalers ranges between tens and hundreds of dollars, with some companies agreeing to a $35 cap earlier this year.

On average, 10 people in the US die from asthma each day and more than 3,200 people died in 2022, the foundation said. An estimated 22 million American adults had asthma in the US that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Source: The Independent, 10 December 2024