World Asthma Day is celebrated, a disease suffered by 5% of the population of the Balearic Islands.

The High Complexity Asthma Unit of the Hospital Universitario Son Espases has once again been accredited with a degree of excellence by the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery. This accreditation is awarded after passing demanding quality, organisational, teaching and research criteria.

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Asthma Unit at Son Espases

The Asthma Unit at Son Espases, one of the few in Spain with a degree of excellence, is staffed by a multidisciplinary team made up of pneumology and nursing specialists who treat more than 500 asthmatic patients every year.

Tests are carried out to evaluate the evolution of asthma, such as spirometry and care for exacerbations of the disease. More complex patients with more severe disease can be treated with new biological treatments with monoclonal antibodies aimed at blocking the exaggerated inflammatory response that characterises the disease. There is also time for health education, teaching inhalation techniques and healthy lifestyles.

It is World Asthma Day, one of the most common chronic non-communicable diseases, which affects more than 260 million people worldwide and is responsible for more than 450,000 deaths each year, most of which are preventable. In the Balearic Islands the prevalence of asthma is estimated to be 5%.

Asthma usually responds well to inhaled inflammatory treatment, but on other occasions it can be more severe, affect patients’ quality of life and cause a high number of hospital admissions. For the care of these more severe patients, coordination between different levels of care, such as primary care and hospitals, and between different hospitals on the islands, is important. The aim is to ensure that these patients benefit from the most innovative treatments, which in most cases allow the disease to be controlled.

The Asthma Unit of the Son Espases Hospital coordinates the Severe Asthma Committee of the Balearic Islands, which proposes and approves the indication of the drugs prescribed to all patients in the Balearic Islands.