By recording the use of the inhaler, digital inhalers facilitate identification of patients with poor compliance to the prescribed maintenance medication, suggests a new study from the United States.¹

The study included 181 patients with suboptimal control of asthma (mean Asthma Control Test score 14.6) with mean age of 48.3 years and randomized them to the Digihaler Maintenance and Reliever Digital System (MRDS; fluticasone propionate/salmeterol and albuterol Digihalers) or the standard of care including maintenance and reliever inhalers for 24 weeks. Participants in the MRDS group voluntarily registered their response as happy, neutral or sad based on the daily self-assessment (DSA) feature of the App. The response was given one time, but it could be changed later. The number of responses were also noted.

There were 5928 responses: 66.5% ‘happy’, 29.9% ‘neutral’ and 3.5% ‘sad’. Over 80% of the participants had more than one DSA response. Among participants with one DSA response, the mean adherence to maintenance medication was 70%, whereas those who had the highest number of responses, the adherence was 90%. Sixty-six percent of the participants who had a mean adherence of 75% or greater gave a “happy” response compared to 55% of those in whom the adherence was less than 75%. Participants who had 95% adherence to the medication had 75% positive responses vs 63% positive response among those with adherence of 45%.

These findings highlight the advantages of digital inhalers in keeping track of the adherence to the maintenance medication. “Digihaler integrated inhalers transmit data wirelessly to a smart phone application (App), which allows for inhaler usage tracking.” Greater the adherence to the medication, more were the “happy” responses due to better symptom control.

Reference

1. Mosnaim G, et al. Relationship between medication adherence and self-assessment responses in patients with asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2023 Feb.;151(2 Suppl): AB158. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2022.12.227.