• Roxanne Bournival, Raphaël Coutu, Nicolas Goettel, Chun Dian Yang, Antoine Cantin-Lafleur, Catherine Lemieux, Anne-Marie Lévesque, Jean-François Patenaude-Monette, François-Olivier Roy, Lucie Blais, Fanny Arbour, Anne Fillion, and Marie-France Beauchesne.
• 1 Department of Pharmacy, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke , Sherbrooke, Canada .
• J Aerosol Med Pulm Drug Deliv. 2018 Aug 1; 31 (4): 237-247.

BackgroundInhaler technique and patient preferences are often overlooked when selecting maintenance treatments for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but are important issues in ensuring drug efficacy and patient adherence. Few data on these issues are available for new inhalation devices.ObjectivesTo evaluate the inhalation techniques for the HandiHaler®, Breezhaler®, Genuair®, and Respimat® inhalation devices, and patient preferences for the three latter inhalers that were recently developed.MethodsA prospective two-center cross-sectional study of COPD patients was conducted. The patients were required to be current HandiHaler users who had not previously used the new inhalers (Breezhaler, Genuair, Respimat). The patients were given the new devices and asked to identify the one they preferred before and after using the inhaler. Each patient tried the HandiHaler and two devices out of the three new inhalers: one preferred by the patient and one imposed by the investigator. Their inhalation technique was evaluated using an assessment checklist. A logistic regression model was used to determine which device was used with the fewest errors.ResultsOf the 98 patients who completed the study, 57.1% (95% CI: 47.4-66.9) had an adequate HandiHaler technique. There was no difference between the proportions of patients with an adequate Breezhaler and Genuair inhalation technique (aOR 1.08, 95% CI: 0.51-2.30), but 62% fewer patients using Respimat had an adequate technique than those using Genuair (aOR for adequate technique 0.38, 95% CI: 0.18-0.82). There were no significant differences in the initial patient preferences for the three new inhalers, and no association between the patient's preference and an adequate inhaler technique.ConclusionInhalation techniques were suboptimal and varied between inhalers. The arrival of new inhalers is an opportunity to reassess patient techniques and preferences. Further studies should also explore the association between the inhaler preferences and treatment adherence of patients.

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