By Grant Smith

A LEADING Dundee researcher into asthma and allergies has called for more investment in primary care services for sufferers.

Professor Brian Lipworth, who is head of a research group based at Ninewells Hospital, was speaking after its work was officially recognised by a major medical body in the United States.

The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology bestowed an honorary fellowship upon him at its annual conference in New Orleans, citing his “outstanding contribution to research.”

Asthma costs the NHS about £850 million a year and campaigners have called for additional resources for treatment and research.

Earlier this year the National Asthma Campaign Scotland claimed patients were the victims of a “postcode lottery” of unevenly- distributed services. For example, only Tayside came close to achieving the recommended 50% of pharmacists having specialist asthma training.

Professor Lipworth said, “Most GP practices will have an asthma-trained nurse and most GPs are fairly switched-on on how to treat asthma and allergies.”

However, there was a need for additional investment to be made at primary care level throughout the country to ensure that sufferers had good access to services, he said.

The professor leads a team of scientists, doctors, nurses and technicians who provide a range of services to people suffering from asthma and conditions such as rhinitis. They also have close ties to the pharmaceutical industry and investigate new therapies.

About 5% of the population of Scotland have asthma and 20% have rhinitis, often in the form of hay fever. Although asthma results in only a small number of deaths here, it can greatly affect people’s quality of life.

Professor Lipworth said his honorary fellowship was not solely for him, but recognition of the work being done by the research group. “It’s good for the group to hit that kind of target in the States.

“We are obviously at the cutting edge of research. We publish a lot of results in the States and this shows that we must be on the right track.”

His group does a lot of outreach work with primary care services and the professor said he and his colleagues enjoyed a close collaboration with a number of GP practices. The group also has a mobile unit that can be used for carrying out tests.

Over the past few years the group has been able to build up an extensive patient database and it is now waiting to hear if plans to expand this to the Perth area can go ahead.

The World Health Organisation reckons that there are 150 million people with asthma, of whom 180,000 die every year. Fatalities in the UK are 1500 a year.

Professor Lipworth said, “In Scotland the main cause is the house dust mite. One or two hundred years ago we would not have had central heating or carpets and these allergens would not have been around.”

People’s immune systems would have spent their time fighting off common diseases. Now they have fewer to cope with and more time to concentrate defences on allergens, with the big four sources being dust mites, cats, dogs and grass pollen.

Asthma and rhinitis, the professor said, were, “payback for our cushy existence.”