|
SELECTED ARTICLES FROM THE RECENT LITERATURE 2006
12/14/06
Compliance with prescribed fluticasone-salmeterol therapy
Summary
Background – Inadequate patient compliance with controller therapy in asthma is still a major problem and concern in the USA.
Findings – Bender et al of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, CO reviewed findings in the database of a national pharmacy chain for prescription patterns in a large group of asthmatics. They found that following an initial prescription of a single fluticasone-salmeterol inhaler, only 22% of the patients continue to obtain refills of their prescribed inhalers at appropriate intervals. In some cases, only the initial inhaler unit was obtained. Factors associated with higher compliance rates were male gender, age over 35 years, co-morbid conditions, previous beta 2 agonist use, higher dose fluticasone-salmeterol inhalers and a relatively low co-pay of $1 to $10.
Reference
J Allergy Clin Immunol 2006; 118:899-904
Editor's Comments
These findings are discouraging indeed especially in view of the considerable emphasis (and hopefully, patient education) about the importance of regular use of controller medications in persistent asthma. I assume that the patients involved in this study were being evaluated periodically by the prescribing physician during the study period. One would expect that the health care providers would have asked the patients about their medication use. Obviously, methods to enhance patient compliance are needed. It would be of interest to see whether similar low patient compliance rates would occur if no co-pay was required.
|