Compliance with inhaled medication and self-treatment guidelines following a self-management programme in adult asthmatics

Two of the principal components of self-management are compliance with medication and adherence to self-treatment guidelines. The aim of this study was to evaluate compliance objectively. Twenty two adult asthmatics attended a self-management programme. During a 2 week run-in period, compliance with inhaled steroids and peak expiratory flow (PEF) were electronically-registered. For PEF this resulted in a personal best value (PBV). Subsequently, patients attended four educational group sessions. During the four weeks of follow-up, patients were instructed to measure their PEF on a fixed day of the week and when they experienced an increase in symptoms. If PEF fell below 80% of PBV, patients had to double their use of inhaled steroids; if PEF fell below 60%, they had to start a short course of oral steroids. During run-in, mean compliance was 83% and compliance per patient varied from 6 to 106%. During follow-up, on days without exacerbation, compliance with inhaled steroids increased by 12% (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 3-21%) compared to run-in, ranging 21-200%. On days when patients should have doubled their inhaled steroids, compliance decreased by 28% (95% CI -39 to -17), and compliance ranged 46-94%. Of the 10 patients who should have doubled their medication, only three did so, whilst four increased the use of inhaled steroids but only by one or two puffs; three patients did not alter their behaviour. In five patients (24%) PEF fell below 60% of their PBV, after which four started prednisolone (self-report). In conclusion, even after a formal self-management programme, patients with asthma comply only partially to self-treatment guidelines. Most are willing to increase, but not double, their inhaled steroids. This suggests that more emphasis is needed to reassure patients about the safety of inhaled steroids.

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