TY - JOUR
T1 - Adherence in childhood asthma: The elephant in the room
AU - Morton, R.W.
AU - Everard, Mark
AU - Elphick, H.E.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Adherence to inhaled steroids is suboptimal in many children with asthma and can lead to poor disease control. Many previous studies in paediatric populations have used subjective and inaccurate adherence measurements, reducing their validity. Adherence studies now often use objective electronic monitoring, which can give us an accurate indication of the extent of non-adherence in children with asthma. A review of the studies using electronic adherence monitoring shows that half of them report mean adherence rates of 50% or below, and the majority report rates below 75%. Reasons for non-adherence are both intentional and non-intentional, incorporating illness perceptions, medication beliefs and practical adherence barriers. Interventions to improve adherence in the paediatric population have had limited success, with the most effective containing both educational and behavioural aspects.
AB - Adherence to inhaled steroids is suboptimal in many children with asthma and can lead to poor disease control. Many previous studies in paediatric populations have used subjective and inaccurate adherence measurements, reducing their validity. Adherence studies now often use objective electronic monitoring, which can give us an accurate indication of the extent of non-adherence in children with asthma. A review of the studies using electronic adherence monitoring shows that half of them report mean adherence rates of 50% or below, and the majority report rates below 75%. Reasons for non-adherence are both intentional and non-intentional, incorporating illness perceptions, medication beliefs and practical adherence barriers. Interventions to improve adherence in the paediatric population have had limited success, with the most effective containing both educational and behavioural aspects.
U2 - 10.1136/archdischild-2014-306243
DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2014-306243
M3 - Review article
C2 - 24876303
VL - 99
SP - 949
EP - 953
JO - Archive Diseases of Childhood
JF - Archive Diseases of Childhood
SN - 0003-9888
IS - 10
ER -