Adherence to inhaled therapy in the outpatient setting.

OBJECTIVE

To find out the degree of adherence to inhaled therapy in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma in a pulmonology clinic. To identify the type of non-compliance and the different factors affecting it.

METHOD

A descriptive, cross-sectional study in which 124 patients were included. Adherence was assessed using the 'Test of Adherence to Inhalers' (TAI) questionnaire.

RESULTS

A total of 62 women and 62 men were recruited and the average age was 63. Fifty-one point 6percent of the patients had COPD, and 48.4% were asthmatics. Thirty-eight point 7percent of the them showed high adherence, 37.9% showed intermediate adherence and 23.4%, low adherence. In terms of non-compliance, 13.7% was erratic, 4.8% was deliberate, and 28.2%, unwitting. Patients with a basic level of education had better compliance than the others (P=.05), and patients with COPD showed higher adherence than the asthmatics (P=.02). Age, gender and the trainer did not indicate significant statistical differences.

CONCLUSION

38.7% of patients show high adherence to inhaled therapy, with a predominance of unwitting non-compliance. Patients with COPD and with a basic level of education showed higher levels of adherence. The training given by the pulmonologist and the respiratory nurse seemed to improve adherence to these treatments, although no significant differences were found.