Inhaled steroids - Too much of a good thing?

To the Editor: Our recent study of patients' priorities for asthma care1,2 provides additional evidence supporting the concerns of Wilson and Robertson in their editorial questioning the possible overuse of inhaled corticosteroids.3 We have reported a qualitative study of 62 individuals who presented to an emergency department at either a central city, suburban or rural hospital, in which we explored individuals' perceptions about their asthma, its care and the impact of asthma on their lives.1,2 We also asked participants to complete a questionnaire on the use of medications and sought to amplify this information by further probing the use of medications in our qualitative data collection.