Pioneering research at the University of East Anglia aims to reduce asthma-related deaths in the UK.
The project has been awarded £1.7 million in funding from the National Institute for Health Research and it aims to identify people most at risk of an asthma attack. It will examine whether introducing a register of people at risk and training medical staff to provide these patients with on-going specialist support will reduce their likelihood of being hospitalised or suffering a life-threatening asthma attack.
This research follows the publication of the National Review of Asthma Deaths by the Royal College of Physicians. Three people die of asthma every day in the UK and the National Review identified that as many as two thirds of these deaths could have been avoided.
Lead researcher Dr Andrew Wilson, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: 'Identifying and targeting care to patients most at risk of asthma attacks and developing methods to deal with the variable standard of care in the UK are important national treatment strategies. Previous research supported by Asthma UK shows that this approach halved the number of hospitalisations and was cost effective.'
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