The National Asthma Council Australia (NAC) has released updated information related to thunderstorm asthma to help health professionals raise their awareness of the risks associated with this condition.
Chair of the NAC Guidelines Committee, Professor Nick Zwar says people with asthma who are allergic to ryegrass pollen and who aren’t using inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are at risk of death or admission to an ICU when thunder strikes during extreme pollen levels times.
Professor Zwar says that the most important risk factor for thunderstorm asthma is “seasonal allergic rhinitis” but that it’s also “critical to educate patients without asthma to recognise and report possible asthma symptoms (wheeze, tight chest, dyspnoea) and to know how to access a rapid acting reliever inhaler if needed”.
Adding to this, Professor Frank Thien, Respiratory and Allergy Physician, says in people with an allergy to grass pollens, thunderstorm asthma can be triggered by exposure to a high concentration of pollen fragments in wind gusts just before a thunderstorm.
“Grass pollen allergy can trigger life-threatening asthma requiring intensive care admission, especially in those with poorly controlled or unrecognised asthma,” he said.
“Patients may present with asthma symptoms soon after exposure, or in the following days with an asthma flare-up that they may have been trying to manage on their own.”
Speaking about thunderstorm asthma epidemics, Professor Zwar says that these “can occur when a storm triggers asthma in many individuals with grass pollen allergy, resulting in a very high demand on ambulance and health services”.
“As a safety precaution in south-eastern Australia over the coming weeks, people with seasonal allergic rhinitis should be given preventive advice about thunderstorm asthma (in the absence of allergy tests) because it is reasonable to assume that sensitisation to ryegrass pollen is likely,” he said.
“General practices and pharmacies, particularly those across South Eastern Australia, should ensure they have an Emergency Asthma Plan Policy for patients presenting with an asthma flare-up, all staff are trained in asthma first aid and there are good supplies of reliever medications and spacers on hand, particularly for emergency use.”
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