The latest issue of Australia's free, national, independent journal of drugs and therapeutics is now available. Some of the highlights of the February issue include:
Avoid sedating antihistamines for allergies
Recent evidence shows less sedating antihistamines are a safer, effective option for long-term treatment of allergies. Drs Katrina Randall and Carolyn Hawkins from the Department of Immunology at Canberra Hospital explain that sedating antihistamines have more potential for harm, and now have little role in therapeutics.
Asthma patients using expensive combination inhalers may not get extra benefit
Combination inhalers can increase the cost of treatment for people with asthma and may not provide extra benefit. The common Australian practice of prescribing a combination inhaler containing a corticosteroid and a long-acting beta2 agonist is questioned, as much of the benefit can be obtained with a corticosteroid inhaler alone.
‘Cephalosporin allergy’ label misleading
Patients who have an allergic reaction to one cephalosporin may be inaccurately labelled as ‘allergic’ to the whole family of medicines. Drs Carlo Yuson and William Smith and Professor Connie Katelaris say that cross-reactive allergy across the cephalosporin group and between penicillins and cephalosporins is rare. This means that accurate and detailed recording of allergic reactions to antibiotics in patient records is essential. ---
