Adherence to medication in patients with Difficult Asthma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluating the psychological and practical predictors of adherence to medication in patients with Difficult Asthma.
IRAS ID
138951
Contact name
Sian Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Brighton
Research summary
Asthma is a highly prevalent condition worldwide and numerous guidelines have been developed to optimise management. Over 5 million people in the UK suffer with asthma and it accounts for more than 1,200 deaths per year. Asthma exacerbations lead to over 50,000 hospital admissions per annum despite national guidelines. In addition, it is estimated that asthma leads to a direct cost to the NHS of £1 billion with a spend of £800 million on pharmaceutical costs alone. A total of £6 billion is attributed to indirect costs to society due to time off work and loss of productivity as many have poorly controlled or uncontrolled asthma.
It is estimated that 20% of patients with asthma are known to have “difficult asthma”, requiring high cost utilisation/high burden to the patient and the wider healthcare economy. It has been identified by a recent European Union directive that improving adherence is one of ten priorities for reducing this burden of asthma on individuals and society. Reported non-adherence amongst asthmatic patients has been shown to range between 30-70% and is associated with poor health care outcomes and increased healthcare costs.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has suggested that interventions that support adherence will be more effective if they are tailored to the needs of the individual and address the salient perceptual and practical factors affecting patients' motivation to start and continue with treatment as well as their ability to follow the agreed treatment regime, however there has been little research to date to elucidate such factors in patients with difficult asthma.
The proposed research will therefore aim to establish what factors affect adherence in patients with difficult asthma. This will be undertaken using validated questionnaires designed to measure levels of and reasons for non-adherence in patients with a chronic disease.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NW/1187
Date of REC Opinion
23 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion