Adherence to Treatment in Asthma and COPD Patients in Their Doctors’ Assessment

Introduction: Adherence to therapy is one of the basic preconditions of successful treatment of asthma and COPD. Unfortunately, many patients take their medication incorrectly. The aim of this study was to assess doctors’ knowledge of this phenomenon, including interventions able to improve patient adherence. Materials and Methods: It was a questionnaire-based survey conducted among convenience sample of Polish physicians treating asthma and COPD. Results: One hundred and sixty one physicians, mainly specialists in allergology (44.1%) and pulmonology (37.3%) took part in the study. According to participants, asthma patients took on average 65.4 ± 17.1% of doses of prescribed drugs, whereas COPD patients—61.6 ± 24.2%. Over half of respondents claimed that during the first year of treatment, no more than 20% of asthma and COPD patients discontinue their therapy. Survey participants pointed at patients discourage (41.6%) and lack of knowledge about disease (19.3%) as the main reasons for discontinuation of therapy. Almost 2/3 of participants (65.8%) claimed that they could recognize non-adherence in their patients. Prescribing combination inhaled drugs (72.7%), drugs with infrequent dosing (63.4%), and affordable ones (53.4%) were the most common interventions aimed at improving adherence provided by respondents. Conclusions: Survey participants were aware of the phenomenon of non-adherence in patients with asthma and COPD, but underestimated the real prevalence and seriousness of it. They also overestimated their ability to recognise non-adherence in their patients. Therefore, not necessarily they may obtain better adherence in their asthma and COPD patients. These results point at the issues which should be addressed in pre- and postgraduate education of physicians treating chronic airways conditions.