Does Once-Daily Asthma Treatment Improve Adherence?

Patients with asthma who are treated with once-daily regimens are more likely to adhere to treatment compared with those receiving twice-daily regimens, a new study found. However, the authors of the study noted that this did not affect clinical outcomes.

In a 6-month follow-up study, the researchers assessed 197 patients with asthma over 2 visits. They compared adherence among patients treated with once-daily regimens vs twice-daily regimens using the electronic prescription refill rate and the 10-item Test of Adherence to Inhalers (TAI).
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A total of 180 patients completed the study. Results revealed that 29.8% of patients taking once-daily regimens vs 46.9% of those taking twice-daily regimens had a TAI score of less than 50, with moderate correlation observed between the 2 methods.

The researchers noted that there were no significant between-group differences in forced expiratory volume in the first second of forced breath, symptoms or exacerbations associated with optimal vs suboptimal adherence.

Over the course of follow-up, 5 patients on once-daily regimens and 17 patients on twice-daily regimens experienced exacerbations. Furthermore, at the second visit, 13.1% of the patients on once-daily regimens and 31.3% on twice-daily regimens had uncontrolled asthma.

“Mean adherence rates were greater with [once-daily regimens] than with [twice-daily regimens], but we did not observe an effect on clinical outcomes,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

de Llano LP, Sanmartin AP, González-Barcala FJ, et al. Assessing adherence to inhaled medication in asthma: Impact of once-daily versus twice-daily dosing frequency. The ATAUD study [Published online February 20, 2018]. J Asthma. doi:10.1080/02770903.2018.1426769.