Patients who use inhaled maintenance medicine to treat their COPD are not following the guidelines for that medication in most cases.
That’s according to a study, “Factors Associated With Guideline-Concordant Maintenance Inhaled Medication for COPD: A Population-based, Longitudinal Cohort Study,” published in Thorax.
Researchers analyzed data from British Columbia, Canada, collected between 2011 and 2022, of nearly 72,000 patients aged 40 and older who were newly diagnosed with COPD. The individuals were classified as either high risk if they had at least two outpatient visits for acute exacerbation of COPD or low risk if they had one or fewer acute exacerbations.
The researchers used generalized linear models to evaluate the association between patient, clinical and health system factors and the initiation of medication that adhered to the guidelines.
Results showed only 30.42% of patients initiated guideline-concordant treatment with their COPD medication. The rest, nearly 70%, were not adhering to guidelines. However, patients with a high risk of exacerbations initiated guideline-concordant treatment more often than those at low risk (70.4% compared to 13.3%). Getting care from a pulmonologist and having additional outpatient visits also increased compliance with the guidelines.
The researchers wrote the study showed “increased access to outpatient and specialist care may support COPD management.”
