PRESSURIZED SYMPATHOMIMETIC AEROSOLS AND THEIR LACK OF RELATIONSHIP TO ASTHMA MORTALITY IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract

In Britain, a rise and fall of mortality from asthma during the decade 1960–1970 has been related to a rise and fall in the sales of pressurized sympathomimetic aerosols. In Australia, the mortality rose from approximately 35 per 1,000,000 people in 1958–1963, to approximately 48 per 1,000,000 in 1964–1966, and subsequently declined to the previous levels. Over the same period, aerosol sales increased more or less progressively. Australian experience thus provides no epidemiological support for the hypothesis of a causal relationship between pressurized aerosols and death from asthma.