Patients' beliefs and behaviors related to treatment adherence in patients with asthma requiring maintenance treatment in Asia. (August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chiu, K.-C.; Boonsawat, W.; Cho, S.-H.; Cho, Y. J.; Hsu, J.-Y.; Liam, C.-K.; Muttalif, A. R.; Nguyen, H. D.; Nguyen, V. N.; Wang, C.; Kwon, N.
• Is Part Of: Journal of asthma. Volume 51:Number 6(2014)
• Page Start: 652
• Page End: 659
• Publication Date: 2014-08
• Subjects: Asthma -- Periodicals; 616.238005
• DOI: 10.3109/02770903.2014.898772
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0277-0903

Abstract

<abstract> <title>Abstract</title> <p> <italic>Objectives</italic>: To identify patients' beliefs or behaviors related to treatment adherence and to assess association between asthma control and adherence in Asian patients with asthma. <italic>Methods:</italic> We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of adult patients with asthma from specialist clinics in six Asian countries. Patients who were deemed by their treating physicians to require a maintenance treatment with an inhaler for at least 1 year were recruited. Patients completed a 12-item questionnaire related to health beliefs and behaviors, the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8), the Asthma Control Test (ACT™), and the Standardized Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ-S). <italic>Results</italic>: Of the 1054 patients recruited, 99% were current users of inhaled corticosteroids. The mean ACT score was 20.0 ± 4.5 and 64% had well-controlled asthma. The mean MMAS-8 score was 5.5 ± 2.0 and 53% were adherent. Adherence was significantly associated with patients' understanding of the disease and inhaler techniques, and with patients' acceptance of inhaler medicines in terms of benefits, safety, convenience, and cost (<italic>p</italic> < 0.01 for all). In multivariate analysis, three questions related to patients' acceptance of inhaler medicines remained significantly associated with poor adherence, after adjusting for potential confounders: "I am not sure inhaler type medicines work well" (<italic>p</italic> = 0.001), "Taking medicines more than once a day is inconvenient" (<italic>p</italic> = 0.002), and "Sometimes I skip my inhaler to use it over a longer period" (<italic>p</italic> < 0.001). <italic>Conclusions</italic>: Our study showed that patients' acceptance of the benefits, convenience and cost of inhaler medications have a significant impact on treatment adherence in the participating Asian countries.</p> </abstract>