Abstract
The prevalence of asthma is still high in many countries. However, the asthma mortality rate has been significantly decreased after the epidemic of asthma death in the 1970s. The epidemic was occurred in New Zealand and was associated with the use of high-dose inhaled fenoterol at that time. The increased use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in asthma management is proposed as the key factor in the declining trend of asthma mortality rate. The risk factors of asthma-related deaths included history of near-fatal asthma requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation, hospitalisation or emergency care visit for asthma in the past year, currently using or having recently stopped using oral corticosteroids, not currently using ICS, overuse of short-acting b2-agonists, history of psychiatric disease or psychosocial problems, poor adherence with asthma medications and/or poor adherence with (or lack of) a written asthma action plan, food allergy in a patient with asthma, and air pollution.