Patient Compliance With Carrying Rescue Inhalers

Sima J. Patel, DO, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, discussed results surrounding her team's study on whether carrying a rescue inhaler could correlate with better asthma control.

Patel explained that her team didn't just want to focus on what the appropriate medications are when treating asthma - they instead wanted to investigate patient compliance. She highlighted that her demographic inspired her to realize that patient compliance is of utmost importance. Although it was a small study and there was no statistical difference between those who had their inhalers with them and those who didn't, they believe it's a good starting point to begin scrutinizing compliance in bigger cohorts.

Patel continued that while there are so many different inhalers, for rescue inhalers your options are different types of albuterol. Clinicians can start looking at maintenance inhalers once they get into persistent asthma, but it really depends on the patient since the key is targeted therapy based on each patient's needs.

"Asthma, now, as we all know, is shifting more to not just an isolated disease - it's really a spectrum now. All these studies are sharing different endotypes and phenotypes, so we can use that to guide our therapy," concluded Patel.