Compliance with inhaled corticosteroid treatment: rates reported by guardians and measured by the pharmacy.

OBJECTIVE

There is elevated morbidity associated with asthma, particularly in developing countries, and failure to comply with inhaled corticosteroid treatment contributes to this morbidity. The objective of this study is to compare rates of compliance with beclomethasone treatment reported by parents or guardians with those measured by pharmacy dispensing records.

METHODS

A concurrent cohort study of 12 months' duration was carried out, enrolling 106 asthmatic children and adolescents, selected at random. Linear regression was used to compare rates of compliance reported by parents or guardians with the pharmacy dispensing records at the service, every 4 months after enrollment on the study.

RESULTS

Compliance rates reported by parents and/or guardians were always higher (p < 0.001) and exhibited a weak correlation with pharmacy records during the period studied; fourth (r = 0.37) and twelfth (r = 0.31) months of follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

The rates of compliance reported by parents were overestimated during all study periods. The compliance rates of children with asthma should also be monitored by other methods and, in this case, pharmacy records effectively revealed compliance failures. Given its low cost, this method is indicated for verification of these compliance rates.