Distant Compliance with Treatment in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Diseases: Asthma, Copd and Asthma-Copd Overlap Syndrome. Prospective Study

Abstract

Medications prescribed for chronic diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma-COPD overlap (ACO) syndrome should be administered in the long term and compliance becomes a health care concern. Noncompliance adversely affects the outcome of treatment and results in the consumption of human and material resources. The aim of our study was to identify the factors that cause non-compliance with treatment in children, adolescents, and adults with asthma/COPD/ACO in Romania, the methods by which these factors can be understood and corrected, and the evaluation of symptoms. To achieve the goal, regular visits were carried out with symptom control questionnaires (Asthma Control Test (ACT), COPD Assessment Test (CAT)) and FEV1 evaluation using spirometry. The results obtained indicate low long-term compliance (12.35%) due to patients’ abstinence from regular check-ups. In conclusion, we can say that the factors related to doctors have been successfully corrected, but it remains a challenge in correcting the factors related to patients and the health regime.