Abstract
Aims
Commonly prescribed maintenance inhaled therapies for the treatment of COPD have been shown to reduce the risk of exacerbations. However, adherence to these therapies is often poor, compromising effectiveness and wasting public healthcare resources. Utilising technology to provide adherence support for a single dual therapy inhaler may offer a solution and is currently being investigated in the pragmatic cluster randomised trial MAGNIFY. Here we assessed MAGNIFY baseline data to understand the extent, and baseline factors associated with, poor adherence in exacerbating COPD patients.
Methods
Demographic, clinic history, inhaler use, and therapy data of all COPD patients with 2 or more exacerbations over the last 2 years, on treatment and registered at one of the 54 practices participating in MAGNIFY was obtained from the Optimum Patient Care Research Database (https://opcrd.co.uk/). We compared the clinical and demographic characteristics of less adherent (<50% of prescriptions refills over the last year) and more adherent (≥50%) patients.
Results
2,344 out of 5,024 (46.7%) exacerbation-prone COPD patients had poor adherence to their prescribed medication. These patients had significantly more health care contacts and poorer inhalation technique compared to the more adherent patients. BMI, asthma, total exacerbations and therapy type were also different between groups (Table 1).
Conclusion
Nearly half of our COPD cohort at risk of exacerbations were found to be poorly adherent to their medication. Some differences were identified between less and more adherent patients, but most appeared clinically marginal and predicting adherence from our measured characteristics is not possible. Poorly adherent patients had frequent healthcare contacts giving opportunities for interventions to improve adherence. Technology support, as tested in MAGNIFY, may be a solution.
Commonly prescribed maintenance inhaled therapies for the treatment of COPD have been shown to reduce the risk of exacerbations. However, adherence to these therapies is often poor, compromising effectiveness and wasting public healthcare resources. Utilising technology to provide adherence support for a single dual therapy inhaler may offer a solution and is currently being investigated in the pragmatic cluster randomised trial MAGNIFY. Here we assessed MAGNIFY baseline data to understand the extent, and baseline factors associated with, poor adherence in exacerbating COPD patients.
Methods
Demographic, clinic history, inhaler use, and therapy data of all COPD patients with 2 or more exacerbations over the last 2 years, on treatment and registered at one of the 54 practices participating in MAGNIFY was obtained from the Optimum Patient Care Research Database (https://opcrd.co.uk/). We compared the clinical and demographic characteristics of less adherent (<50% of prescriptions refills over the last year) and more adherent (≥50%) patients.
Results
2,344 out of 5,024 (46.7%) exacerbation-prone COPD patients had poor adherence to their prescribed medication. These patients had significantly more health care contacts and poorer inhalation technique compared to the more adherent patients. BMI, asthma, total exacerbations and therapy type were also different between groups (Table 1).
Conclusion
Nearly half of our COPD cohort at risk of exacerbations were found to be poorly adherent to their medication. Some differences were identified between less and more adherent patients, but most appeared clinically marginal and predicting adherence from our measured characteristics is not possible. Poorly adherent patients had frequent healthcare contacts giving opportunities for interventions to improve adherence. Technology support, as tested in MAGNIFY, may be a solution.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 346 |
| Publication status | Published - 25 Sept 2021 |
| Event | PCRS Respiratory Conference 2021 - Virtual Conference Duration: 24 Sept 2021 → 25 Sept 2021 https://www.pcrs-uk.org/annual-conference |
Conference
| Conference | PCRS Respiratory Conference 2021 |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | PCRS 2021 |
| Period | 24/09/21 → 25/09/21 |
| Internet address |