Allergies in India: a study on medication compliance.

There are no studies in Indian literature on compliance to various medications for allergic diseases such as nasal sprays, inhalers, immunotherapy and antihistamines. This study was initiated to cover this lacuna. Eighty young patients suffering from asthma with rhinitis or urticaria between the age group of 10 and 40 years were included in this study. Compliance to medications was carefully observed using dose diaries for a period of one year. The data obtained revealed the highest compliance for sublingual immunotherapy (84.19%) and the lowest for a nasal spray (62.32%). The compliance for a dry powder inhaler was 69.31% and for fexofenadine tablets it was 71.78%. These figures are surprisingly low, especially since this study was conducted in a private clinic.