Cost effectiveness of asthma treatment with a breath-actuated pressurised metered dose inhaler (BAI) - a prescribing claims study of 1856 patients using a traditional pressurised metered dose inhaler (MDI) or a breath-actuated device

Summary

High levels of asthma resource use in the UK indicate that optimal control is not being achieved. This may be at least partly due to improper inhaler technique with metered dose inhalers (MDIs). One solution may be to prescribe inhalers that are easier to use, i.e. breath-actuated inhalers (BAIs). This analysis used a primary care database to assess the extent to which BAI (Easi-Breathe®) patients differ from MDI patients in terms of their asthma related-resource costs. A child using the BAI had annual asthma medication costs that were £16.83 higher than a child using an MDI and an adult using the BAI had medication costs that were £3.02 higher. This was expected due to the higher unit cost of the salbutamol BAI compared to the salbutamol MDI. However, a breakdown of medication costs showed that antibiotic and oral steroid costs were lower in the BAI group. The higher medication costs for BAI users were offset by the lower non-medication costs (£46.57 and £69.09 less for children and adults using the BAI, respectively). The result was a lower cost overall for BAI users compared to MDI users. Asthma is a therapeutic area which imposes a significant burden on both patients and health services. Given its increasing prevalence and morbidity levels, it is important to ensure that all possible steps are taken by clinicians to reduce this burden wherever possible. Such steps may include the prescription of BAIs.

Easi-Breathe® is a registered trademark of IVAX Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd.

Key words: :

• cost-effectiveness
• economic evaluation
• asthma
• breath-actuated
• inhaler
• Easi-Breathe®