| Title: | Does the Test of Adherence to Inhalers (TAI) Questionnaire Correlate with the Inhaled Corticosteroid Medicines Possession Ratio of Patients Attending a UK Hospital Asthma Clinic? |
|---|---|
| Author(s): | G d'Ancona A Khan S Rahman N Stewart-Kelcher A Patel L Green M Fernandes C Roxas L Thompson J Dhariwal A Nanzer DJ Jackson |
| Institution: | Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital |
| Poster: | Click to view poster |
| Category: | COPD/Asthma |
| Abstract: | A common method of determining adherence to inhaled corticosteroid treatment is the medicines possession ratio (MPR) calculated from prescription records as observed pickup/expected. A high MPR (>75%) suggests good adherence, 51-74% is intermediate and MPR<50% suggests poor adherence. Another strategy is the Test of Adherence to Inhalers1 (TAI), a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire with 10-items which classifies adherence as good, intermediate or poor based on the patient’s total response score (50/50, 46-49/50 or <45/50 respectively). Of 100 patients attending a hospital asthma clinic (60% female, mean age 46 years), 56 had a TAI that matched their MPR classification, 28 TAI suggested better adherence than MPR (10 significantly so) and 16 insinuated less ICS use (4 significantly so). The results are summarised in table 1. While the limitations of interpreting a high MPR are acknowledged (it does not guarantee adherence), a low MPR makes adherence unlikely. In this cohort of patients, using TAI to triage patients with intermediate/low adherence for medicines-taking support from the pharmacist identified 44 patients, of whom 14 were potentially inappropriate (high MPR), but importantly overlooked 17 with intermediate/low MPR. These data suggest TAI alone is unlikely to identify potential non-adherence and reiterates caution when interpreting the MPR. |
