Not much is known about adherence to as
USA: Asthma patients have a higher adherence to asthma biologic therapy than to inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), finds a recent study in the journal CHEST.
thma biologics and how adherence may have an impact on asthma outcomes. Matthew A. Rank, Division of Pulmonology, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, and colleagues aimed to determine if adherence to inhaled corticosteroid is associated with subsequent asthma biologic adherence.
For the purpose, the researcher analyzed people with asthma who started asthma biologics in the OptumLab Data Warehouse and the data was used until l October 2019. They calculated proportion days covered (PDC) for ICS ± long-acting β-agonists in the 6 months before and after asthma biologics were started and asthma biologic PDC for the first 6 months of use.
Multivariable analysis was performed to identify factors associated with asthma biologic PDC ≥0.75, ICS PDC ≥0.75 during the 6-month period after asthma biologic were started, and achievement of a ≥50% reduction in asthma exacerbations during the first 6 months of asthma biologic use.
A total of 5,319 people who started asthma biologics were identified.
Key findings of the study include:
The mean PDC for asthma biologics was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.75-0.77) in the first 6 months after starting, higher than the mean PDCs for ICS in the 6 months before (0.44) and after (0.40) starting the asthma biologic.
PDC ≥0.75 for ICS 6 months before index biologic use is associated with PDC for asthma biologics ≥0.75 (OR, 1.25) and for ICS during the first 6 months of biologic use (OR, 9.93).
Neither ICS PDC ≥0.75 (OR, 0.92) nor asthma biologic PDC ≥0.75 (OR, 1.15) is associated with a statistically significant reduction in asthma exacerbations during the first 6 months of asthma biologic use among people with any exacerbation in the 6 months before first use.
"Adherence to asthma biologic is higher than to ICS and is associated with different factors," wrote the authors.
The study titled, "Adherence to Asthma Biologics -- Implications for Patient Selection, Step Therapy, and Outcomes," is published in the journal Chest.
DOI: https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692%2820%2935101-1/fulltext