• Vaishali Mehta, Najia Sayedy, Joshua Fogel, Eric Lam, Pratap Upadrista, Bruno Okoro, Hira Tahir, and Jagadish Akella.
• Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow, New York vaishalikashyap21@gmail.com.
• Respir Care. 2024 Jul 24; 69 (8): 975981975-981.

BackgroundInhaler education for patients with asthma and patients with COPD is typically provided by non-pulmonologists. We studied inhaler education by pulmonologists to determine changes in clinical outcomes and inhaler use.MethodsThis was a retrospective study of 296 subjects diagnosed with asthma, COPD, or both that evaluated use of inhaler technique education and its impact on (1) inhaler/dosage change consisting of dosage change in the same class of inhaler and/or change in number of inhalers, (2) forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC%), (3) disease symptom control, (4) out-patient visits, (5) urgent care visits (6) emergency department visits, and (7) hospital admissions. One group received inhaler technique education by a pulmonologist while the other group did not.ResultsThe pulmonologist inhaler technique-educated group had significantly decreased relative risk for inhaler/dosage increase (relative risk 0.57 [95% CI 0.34-0.96], P = .03) and significantly increased odds for symptom control (odds ratio 2.15 [95% CI 1.24-3.74], P = .01) at 1-y follow-up as compared to the no education group. No differences occurred for FEV1/FVC%, out-patient visits, urgent care visits, emergency department visits, and hospital admissions.ConclusionsPulmonologist education of inhaler technique for patients with asthma and patients with COPD was associated with decreased relative risk for inhaler/dosage increase and increased odds for symptom control. We recommend pulmonologists provide education of inhaler technique to patients with asthma and patients with COPD and not rely on non-pulmonologist education alone. Prospective research is needed to confirm the importance of proper inhaler techniques.Copyright © 2024 by Daedalus Enterprises.

30 keywords...

hide…