DATA from pharmacies in areas impacted by last summer's bushfires showed large increases in sales of inhalers corresponding to the spread of the fires, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reveals.
The AIHW's Australian bushfires 2019-20: exploring the short-term health impacts report found pharmacies in NSW's Mid North Coast region jumped by 144% for the week commencing 10 Nov 2019, compared with the same week in 2018, as several fires burned at Emergency Warning level in that area.
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) data showed that during the week beginning 29 Dec 2019, salbutamol prescriptions in the Capital Region of NSW, which includes Batemans Bay, increased by 63%, on the previous corresponding period, with the dispensing rates for the medication remaining high throughout Jan 2020.
A case study of bushfire smoke in the ACT during the crisis showed inhaler sales in the Territory surged by 194% in the week starting 29 Dec, compared with the same week in 2018, with pharmacies reporting a 204% increase in sales the following week.
PBS data for the region showed prescriptions for inhalers increased over the same weeks by 81% and 134% respectively, compared with the same weeks in the previous year.
The report also noted that the Therapeutic Goods Administration had made efforts to inform the public about the availability of salbutamol throughout the crisis to discourage stockpiling and panic-buying of the medicines.
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