Many asthma attacks due to patients not using their medication
Published Online: October 24, 2011 Inhaled corticosteroids are
considered the most effective treatment for controlling asthma
symptoms and preventing asthma attacks. Yet, poor adherence to
prescribed inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) medication by patients
is common. Measuring the contribution of this medication
underuse to asthma attacks is difficult since patients with
asthma often take their medication episodically based on their
waxing and waning symptoms. In original research featured in The
Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (JACI), Williams et al.
were able to measure the contribution of ICS non-adherence to
severe asthma exacerbations in the well characterized SAPPHIRE
cohort. The SAPPHIRE cohort is a large, diverse population of
patients with asthma from the Detroit metropolitan area who
receive care at Henry Ford Health System. Medication adherence
was estimated using detailed electronic prescription and
pharmacy fill data. Investigator