Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Noncompliance and treatment failure in children with asthma☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Subjects
The study participants were 24 children (14 boys and 10 girls) with asthma, between 8 and 12 years old. They were recruited from an ambulatory clinic by using a convenience sample of children who required both inhaled corticosteroid and β-agonist therapy and reliably kept their clinic appointments. Children who were known to be noncompliant with therapy were excluded. Each child was accompanied to every visit by a parent. All subjects had been prescribed inhaled corticosteroids and β-agonists
RESULTS
Primary results are summarized in the Table I. Diary entries stated that the median use of β-agonists was 78.2% of prescribed dose and that steroid use was a striking 95.4%. The median raw compliance for β-agonist and inhaled steroid doses taken, as recorded by the Chronolog, was 62.1% and 58.4%, respectively. However, the time-corrected compliance comprising only doses taken within the correct window was 48% for β-agonists and 32% for inhaled corticosteroids (Fig. 1). Ninety-two percent of the
DISCUSSION
This study compared information regarding the use of medication from patient diaries with that recorded by electronic monitoring devices. Children and their parents were not informed about the recording capability of the Chronologs and did not receive any feedback, nor were data analyzed until the study was completed. It is important to emphasize that this investigation was conducted without disturbing the preexisting doctor-patient relationship. Each patient’s care was directed by his or her
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Cited by (0)
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From the Departments of aPediatrics and b Biostatistics, National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver; and cThe Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center, Baltimore.
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Reprint requests: Henry Milgrom, MD, National Jewish Center for Immunology, 1400 Jackson St., Denver, CO 80206.
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