EDITORIALS
Medication adherence in COPD: what have we learned?
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to Dr M K Han, University of Michigan, 1500 E Medical Center Drive, 3916 TC, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5360, USA; mrking@umich.edu
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
As physicians, we take great interest in the adherence of our patients to prescribed medications. This is based on our belief that the benefits of treatment will be greater in patients who take their medication regularly and less among those who do not. C Everett Koop is quoted as having said: "Drugs don’t work in patients who don’t take them". The practice of faithfully complying with a medication regimen, however, may be just as important as the efficacy of the medication itself. In this month’s issue of Thorax, Vestbo et al1 report that, among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) participating in the TORCH trial,2 adherers experienced significantly better survival and a lower risk of hospital admission due to exacerbations than non-adherers (see page 939). These effects, however, were independent of treatment group.
In fact, a growing body of literature suggests that adherence to drug therapy
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Thorax 2009 64: i.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Adherence to inhaled therapy, mortality and hospital admission in COPD
- J Vestbo, J A Anderson, P M A Calverley, B Celli, G T Ferguson, C Jenkins, K Knobil, L R Willits, J C Yates, and P W Jones
Thorax 2009 64: 939-943.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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