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. 2020 Jun 19:14:1027-1036.
doi: 10.2147/PPA.S176683. eCollection 2020.

Application of Once-Monthly Self-Reported ACT Questionnaire in Management of Adherence to Inhalers in Outpatients with Asthma

Jing Zhang #  1   2 , Chengchen Yin #  1   3   4 , Hongfang Li  1   3   4 , Weipeng Wei  1   3   4 , Yuansha Gong  5 , Fushan Tang  1   3   4
Affiliations

Application of Once-Monthly Self-Reported ACT Questionnaire in Management of Adherence to Inhalers in Outpatients with Asthma

Jing Zhang et al. Patient Prefer Adherence. .

Abstract

Purpose: Poor medication adherence can negatively affect health outcomes of patients with asthma from medication and significantly increase the healthcare costs. Management of adherence to inhalers remains a challenging topic in the long-term management of patients with asthma. We aim to evaluate the role of asthma control test (ACT) in the management of adherence to inhalers in outpatients with asthma.

Patients and methods: Six hundred twenty-seven outpatients with asthma admitted to the clinic of respiratory medicine in a tertiary hospital in northwestern China during 2016 to 2019 were randomly divided into observation group (n= 315) and control (n= 312) and received standard inhalant therapy for 6 months and lung function test before and after treatment. The patients in the observation group took ACT questionnaires at the end of each month, while the patients in control only took an ACT at the end of the last month. The 'Test of Adherence to Inhalers' (TAI) questionnaire was used to evaluate the patients' adherence to inhalant therapy.

Results: All patients completed the study. The ACT scores in the observation group showed a gradual increase month by month. The TAI results indicated that adherence to inhalers of patients in the observation group was significantly better than that in control and the patients' non-adherence pattern in the observation group, with significantly lower erratic non-adherence, was also different from that in control. After 6 months of treatment, the lung function indexes and their relative improvement and the ACT scores in the observation group were significantly better or higher than those in control.

Conclusion: The once-monthly self-reported ACT can effectively improve the adherence to inhalers of outpatients with asthma mainly by addressing erratic non-adherence and improve the treatment effects, and thus deserves widespread use in the treatment adherence management in patients with asthma.

Keywords: ACT; China; TAI; Test of Adherence to Inhalers; asthma control test; medication adherence; self-management.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the study design and procedures.
Figure 2
Figure 2
TAI results of patients: (A) average scores of items 1–10; (B) patients’ choice on items 11 and 12. *Compared with control, P < 0.05; **compared with control, P < 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Asthma control evaluated by ACT scores: (A) in the observation group; (B) comparison between control and the observation group after treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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