<p>Application of Once-Monthly Self-Reported ACT Questionnaire in Management of Adherence to Inhalers in Outpatients with Asthma</p>

Abstract

Poor medication adherence can negatively affect health outcomes of patients with asthma from medication and significantly increase the healthcare costs. Management of adherence to inhalers remains a challenging topic in the long-term management of patients with asthma. We aim to evaluate the role of asthma control test (ACT) in the management of adherence to inhalers in outpatients with asthma. Patients and Methods: Six hundred twenty-seven outpatients with asthma admitted to the clinic of respiratory medicine in a tertiary hospital in northwestern China during 2016 to 2019 were randomly divided into observation group (n= 315) and control (n= 312) and received standard inhalant therapy for 6 months and lung function test before and after treatment. The patients in the observation group took ACT questionnaires at the end of each month, while the patients in control only took an ACT at the end of the last month. The 'Test of Adherence to Inhalers' (TAI) questionnaire was used to evaluate the patients' adherence to inhalant therapy. Results: All patients completed the study. The ACT scores in the observation group showed a gradual increase month by month. The TAI results indicated that adherence to inhalers of patients in the observation group was significantly better than that in control and the patients' non-adherence pattern in the observation group, with significantly lower erratic nonadherence, was also different from that in control. After 6 months of treatment, the lung function indexes and their relative improvement and the ACT scores in the observation group were significantly better or higher than those in control. Conclusion: The once-monthly self-reported ACT can effectively improve the adherence to inhalers of outpatients with asthma mainly by addressing erratic non-adherence and improve the treatment effects, and thus deserves widespread use in the treatment adherence management in patients with asthma.

<p>Correlation Between Patients’ Medication Adherence and Their Psychological Contract with Hospital Pharmacists</p>

“…The results show that most of the responsibilities of hospital pharmacists in the patients' perceptions were fulfilled, while the patients' medication adherence was generally poor (Table 6). 16,17 Correlation Between Psychological…”

Biologics in Severe Eosinophilic Asthma: Three-Year Follow-Up in a SANI Single Center

“…Indeed, in the first 6 months of therapy, a slight although not significant improvement in AE and ACT score was observed also in NR patients, but they showed no further improvement after 1 year of treatment. This suggests that the initial improvement was merely due to the increase in therapy compliance resulting from closer patient monitoring [ 33 ], rather than being an effect of the biological drug. Interestingly, the consequent switch to another biological drug offered to NR patients produced a significant and persistent decrease in AE already apparent after 1 year of therapy.…”

Asthma control test (ACT): comparison with the accurate use of inhalers for the treatment among patients with asthma

“…According to ACT is very useful and very important beneficial for the management and control of asthma (Global Initiative for Asthma, 2020). The ACT questionnaire describes daily activity disturbances as a result of asthma, how often the patient complains of shortness of breath, whether there are symptoms at night, how often he uses spray/oral medication and how the level of asthma control is (Zhang et al, 2020). From previous studies, it was found that there is a relationship between the accuracy of using inhalers and whether or not asthma is controlled based on the ACT.…”