Asthma Probs May Be Due to Non-Compliance

People with difficult-to-treat asthma may actual be their own worst enemy, say researchers from Northern Ireland.

Non-compliance may mean anything from not taking your medications often enough to not taking the right doses to not showing up for doctor or testing appointments. In this study, researchers were looking at how patients managed their inhaled and oral medications. They evaluated 182patients who were experiencing difficulties in managing their asthma symptoms.

The researchers found that:

• 35% filled fewer than half their inhaled combination medications
• 21% filled more than inhaled medications they were supposed to
• 45% filled between half and all the inhaled medications they were supposed to
• 45% didn’t take their oral prednisolone as prescribed
• the majority admitted not taking their oral medications as prescribed
• 65% of those who didn’t take their oral medications properly also didn’t take their inhaled medications properly

In this study, it was women were more likely to not follow their medications than men. The researchers admit, however, that this needs to be looked at further although it wasn’t a surprise. The results of the study were published in the November 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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