Background: Adherence to COPD medication is often considered to be lower than in other chronic diseases. In view of the frequent comorbidities of COPD, the economic impact of nonadherence and the potential for adverse effects, a direct comparison between the adherence to respiratory and nonrespiratory medication in the same patients seems of particular interest. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the intake of respiratory and nonrespiratory medication in the same patients with COPD and frequent comorbidities. Method: Within the COPD cohort COSYCONET, we contacted 1042 patients, mailing them a list with all medication regarding all their diseases, asking for regular, irregular and non-intake. Results: Valid responses were obtained in 707 patients covering a wide spectrum of drugs. Intake of LABA, LAMA or ICS was regular in 91.9% of patients, even higher for cardiovascular and antidiabetes medication but lower for hyperlipidemia and depression/anxiety medication. Regular intake of respiratory medication did not depend on GOLD groups A-D or grades 1-4, was highest in patients with concomitant cardiovascular disorders and was lowest for concomitant asthma. It was slightly larger for LAMA and LABA administered via combined compared to single inhalers, and lower when similar compounds were prescribed twice. Most differences did not reach statistical significance owing to the overall high adherence. Conclusion: Our results indicate a high adherence to respiratory medication in participants of a COPD cohort, especially in those with cardiovascular comorbidities. Compared to the lower adherence reported in the literature for COPD patients, our observations still suggest some room for improvement, possibly through disease management programs.
- Konigsdorfer, N.
- Jorres, R. A.
- Sohler, S.
- Welte, T.
- Behr, J.
- Ficker, J. H.
- Bals, R.
- Watz, H.
- Lutter, J. I.
- Lucke, T.
- Biertz, F.
- Alter, P.
- Vogelmeier, C. F.
- Kahnert, K.
Keywords
- Copd
- nonrespiratory medication
- respiratory medication
- treatment adherence
- Bundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung BMBF, during the conduct of the
- study. He also received personal fees and nonfinancial support from AstraZeneca,
- Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Grifols and Novartis, grants, personal
- fees and nonfinancial support from CSL Behring, outside the submitted work. Claus
- Vogelmeier reports personal fees from Almirall, grants and personal fees from
- AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Grifols, Mundipharma,
- Novartis and Takeda, personal fees from Cipla, Berlin Chemie/Menarini, CSL
- Behring and Teva, grants from German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- (BMBF) Competence Network Asthma and COPD (ASCONET), Bayer Schering Pharma AG,
- MSD and Pfizer, outside the submitted work. Robert Bals reports grants and
- personal fees from AstraZeneca, Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees
- from GlaxoSmithKline and Grifols and CSL Behring, grants from German Federal
- Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Competence Network Asthma and COPD
- (ASCONET), Sander Stiftung, Schwiete Stiftung and Krebshilfe from Mukoviszidose
- eV, outside the submitted work. Peter Alter reports grants from German Federal
- Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Competence Network Asthma and COPD
- (ASCONET), and AstraZeneca GmbH, grants and nonfinancial support from Bayer
- Schering Pharma AG, grants, personal fees and nonfinancial support from
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, grants and nonfinancial support from
- Chiesi GmbH, grants from GlaxoSmithKline, Grifols Deutschland GmbH, and MSD Sharp
- & Dohme GmbH, grants and personal fees from Mundipharma GmbH, grants, personal
- fees and nonfinancial support from Novartis Deutschland GmbH, grants from Pfizer
- Pharma GmbH and Takeda Pharma Vertrieb GmbH & Co. KG, outside the submitted work.
- Johanna Lutter reports grants from Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- (grant number 01GI0881), during the conduct of the study. Tobias Welte reports
- grants from Boehringer, GSK, Novartis, AstraZeneca, during the conduct of the
- study
- personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer, GSK, Novartis, outside the
- submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.
