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. 2025 Dec 31;31(1):2416869.
doi: 10.1016/j.pulmoe.2023.07.004. Epub 2024 Oct 25.

Adherence to inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting β2-agonists in asthma: A MASK-air study

B Sousa-Pinto  1   2 R Louis  3   4 J M Anto  5   6   7 R Amaral  1   2 A Sá-Sousa  1   2 W Czarlewski  8   9 L Brussino  10   11 G W Canonica  12   13 C Chaves Loureiro  14 A A Cruz  15 B Gemicioglu  16 T Haahtela  17 M Kupczyk  18 V Kvedariene  19   20 D E Larenas-Linnemann  21 Y Okamoto  22   23 M Ollert  24   25 O Pfaar  26 N Pham-Thi  27   28   29 F Puggioni  30 F S Regateiro  31   32   33 J Romantowski  34 J Sastre  35 N Scichilone  36 L Taborda-Barata  37   38 M T Ventura  39   40 I Agache  41 A Bedbrook  9   42 S Becker  43 K C Bergmann  44   45 S Bosnic-Anticevich  46   47 M Bonini  48   49   50 L-P Boulet  51 G Brusselle  52 R Buhl  53 L Cecchi  54 D Charpin  55 F de Blay  56   57 S Del Giacco  58 J C Ivancevich  59 M Jutel  60   61 L Klimek  62   63 H Kraxner  64 P Kuna  18 D Laune  65 M Makela  17 M Morais-Almeida  66 R Nadif  67   68 M Niedoszytko  69 N G Papadopoulos  70 A Papi  71 V Patella  72   73   74 B Pétré  75 D Rivero Yeverino  76 C Robalo Cordeiro  14 N Roche  77   78 P W Rouadi  79   80 B Samolinski  81 M Savouré  67   68 M H Shamji  50   82 A Sheikh  83 C Suppli Ulrik  84   85 O S Usmani  50   86 A Valiulis  87   88 A Yorgancioglu  89 T Zuberbier  44   45 J A Fonseca  1   2 E M Costa  90 J Bousquet  44   45   68   91
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Free article

Adherence to inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting β2-agonists in asthma: A MASK-air study

B Sousa-Pinto et al. Pulmonology. .
Free article

Abstract

Introduction: Adherence to controller medication is a major problem in asthma management, being difficult to assess and tackle. mHealth apps can be used to assess adherence. We aimed to assess the adherence to inhaled corticosteroids+long-acting β2-agonists (ICS+LABA) in users of the MASK-air® app, comparing the adherence to ICS+formoterol (ICS+F) with that to ICS+other LABA.

Materials and methods: We analysed complete weeks of MASK-air® data (2015-2022; 27 countries) from patients with self-reported asthma and ICS+LABA use. We compared patients reporting ICS+F versus ICS+other LABA on adherence levels, symptoms and symptom-medication scores. We built regression models to assess whether adherence to ICS+LABA was associated with asthma control or short-acting beta-agonist (SABA) use. Sensitivity analyses were performed considering the weeks with no more than one missing day.

Results: In 2598 ICS+LABA users, 621 (23.9%) reported 4824 complete weeks and 866 (33.3%) reported weeks with at most one missing day. Higher adherence (use of medication ≥80% of weekly days) was observed for ICS+other LABA (75.1%) when compared to ICS+F (59.3%), despite both groups displaying similar asthma control and work productivity. The ICS+other LABA group was associated with more days of SABA use than the ICS+F group (median=71.4% versus 57.1% days). Each additional weekly day of ICS+F use was associated with a 4.1% less risk in weekly SABA use (95%CI=-6.5;-1.6%;p=0.001). For ICS+other LABA, the percentage was 8.2 (95%CI=-11.6;-5.0%;p<0.001).

Conclusions: In asthma patients adherent to the MASK-air app, adherence to ICS+LABA was high. ICS+F users reported lower adherence but also a lower SABA use and a similar level of control.

Keywords: Adherence; Asthma; Formoterol; Inhaled corticosteroids; Long-acting-β2 agonist.

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