Importance of therapeutic adherence in asthmatic patients in COVID-19 pandemic. Has adherence increased after 2020 confinement? REFARMA preliminary results.

05 May 2022
Clinical Research Results Abstract IntroductionThe coincidence of symptoms between asthma and COVID-19, the self-perception as a high-risk vulnerable population to COVID-19, and the fear of having an asthmatic exacerbation that requires a hospital visit in a health system saturated by the pandemic, may have led to an increase in adherence to inhaled therapy. The objective of the study was to compare the adherence to therapeutic treatment of ashtmatic patient who were prescribed an inhalation device before and during the COVID-19 current pandemic.Methodology Observational epidemiological design with pre-post comparison, in which therapeutic adherence was determined through pharmacy retrieval of the medication. The % of medication dispensed with respect to that prescribed was calculated with non-compliance defined as a % <80%. In addition, non-compliance was categorised ordinally into high, medium and low. The first 92 consecutive patients seen by a panel of recruiting doctors from three autonomous communities were included; Cantabria, the Basque Country and Asturias. The 19-month retrospective study period was divided into 7 months PRE (Sep-19 to Mar-20) and 12 pandemic months POST (Apr-20 to Mar-21). Preliminary results on n=92 patients are reported.ResultsIn terms of baseline treatment regimen, 78.3% (n=72) were on a IGC + LABA regimen (1/12h), and the rest on IGC + LABA (1/24h) with prescriptions of between 0.5 and 1.1 packs per month.In terms of % of adherence in quantitative terms, during the 7 months of retrospective follow-up before the pandemic (Sep-19 to Mar-20) (PRE), an average of 0.54 packs/month were withdrawn from the pharmacy; [SD=0.35]. During the 12-month retrospective follow-up since the pandemic (Apr-20 to Mar-21) (POST) an average of 0.60 packs/month were retired from the pharmacy; [SD=0.36], with this difference being statistically significant (p= 0.003). When comparing the % of adherence in quantitative terms in the PRE and POST period, statistically significant differences were also obtained (p= 0.006).In qualitative terms, the prevalence of non-compliance before the pandemic (PRE) was 50% (n=46/92); 95%CI (39.24-60.76) while in the POST (pandemic period) it was 45.7% (n=42/92); 95%CI (34.93-56.37). This lower prevalence of non-compliance was however not statistically significant when compared with the PRE period (p= 0.388).ConclusionsOur results suggest a greater adherence to treatment that reached statistical significance in quantitative terms, in relation to the average number of packs per month dispensed and the % of adherence to treatment. Research Idea Abstract Service Development & Evaluation Abstract Declaration of Interest Study was economically supported by Teva Respiratory through Asociación Cántabra de Investigación en Aparato respiratorio (ACINAR). References and Clinical Trial Registry Information

Resource information

Respiratory conditions
  • COVID-19
Type of resource
Abstract
Conference
Malaga 2022
Author(s)
Miguel Marguello, University of Cantabria