A super-slim, credit card-sized inhaler could improve the lives of many people with asthma, thanks to a 22-year-old design student in the UK.

Adam Bates, in his final year at Brunel University, UK, invented the 6mm-thick Thinhaler in response to a friend with asthma who complained about the difficulty of taking an inhaler out to pubs and clubs.

’She always has her credit card with her though,’ said Adam, ’So I thought if I built an inhaler as small as that she could fit it in her pocket or purse.’

About 5.1 million Britons have asthma, and although it can be kept under control with medication, around 1,400 people in the UK die every year from asthma attacks.

Most of these fatalities could be avoided, says Asthma UK, if people took their prescribed medication, including preventative and reliever drugs.

However, a common problem, especially among young people, is embarrassment about taking medication in front of friends, and carrying around bulky inhalers.

’Whenever we talk to kids and teenagers, they constantly ask for smaller inhalers that they can carry and use without their friends noticing,’ said Lizzy Martenson, Senior Health Promotion Officer at Asthma UK. ’This kind of slimline inhaler would be ideal for them.

’If it encourages them to take their preventer medicine regularly and carry their reliever medication when they go out, it would enable them to take more control over their health and could go some way towards preventing needless deaths.’

The Thinhaler contains up to 100 doses of medication and Adam Bates, who has mild asthma himself, has applied for a patent for the device.

For advice and information on asthma, call the Asthma UK Adviceline (08457 01 02 03) or email an asthma nurse specialist.

http://www.asthma.org.uk/news/news145.php