Effect of a network system for providing proper inhalation technique by community pharmacists on clinical outcomes in COPD patients

Figures & data

Table 1 Comparison of patients’ characteristics at baseline and 4 years later

	Baseline	4 years	P-value
Patients (number)	55	51
Age (years)	69 (8)	69 (8)	0.90
Sex (female)	15	7	0.09
Current smoking (yes)	8	5	0.46
Frequency of clinic visits (per year)	8 (4–18)	7 (4–18)	0.86
Duration of disease (years)	8.1 (10.6)	7.4 (12.1)	0.20
Period of inhaler use (years)	5.9 (6.7)	4.7 (6.0)	0.26
Freq of inhaler use (per day)	2.4 (1.0)	1.9 (0.8)	0.18
Type of Inhaler (MDI:DPI:MDI + DPI)	18:18:19	12:27:12	0.11
Presence of comorbidities	37	36	0.70
Taking of antipsychotic drugs	13	12	0.99
Stage of COPD (1, 2, 3, 4)	13, 30, 9, 3	10, 22, 15, 4	0.37
FEV1% predicted value (%)	68.1 (16.0)	61.0 (18.4)	0.052
FEV1/FVC (%)	56.3 (13.1)	50.6 (14.4)	0.058
Number of patients regularly visiting a certified pharmacy	–	39

Abbreviations: MDI, metered-dose inhaler; DPI, dry powder inhaler; FEV, forced expiratory volume; FVC, forced vital capacity; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Table 2 Comparison of outcome measures in COPD patients at baseline and 4 years later

	Baseline	4 years	P-value
Patients (number)	55	51
Frequency of exacerbations (per year)	1.5 (1.6)	0.8 (1.4)	0.017
Overall mean adherence score	4.1 (0.7)	4.4 (0.8)	0.024
SGRQ scores
Symptoms (0–100)	47.3 (25.9)	50.2 (21.2)	0.60
Activities (0–100)	47.4 (21.9)	48.2 (26.2)	0.79
Impacts (0–100)	31.3 (21.9)	28.8 (19.3)	0.78
Total (0–100)	40.4 (20.1)	40.8 (20.8)	0.99

Abbreviations: COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; SGRQ, St George Respiratory Questionnaire.

Table 3 Comparison of COPD patients’ characteristics and outcomes at 4 years between patients visiting the certified pharmacy and those visiting the usual care pharmacy

Community pharmacy	4 years		P-value
	Certified	Usual
Patients (number)	39	12
Age (years)	68.6 (8.2)	71.4 (8.0)	0.24
Sex (female)	7	0	0.11
Current smoking (yes)	4	1	0.84
Frequency of clinic visits (years)	8.0 (3.3)	7.4 (2.6)	0.73
Duration of disease (years)	8.3 (12.3)	4.3 (3.1)	0.76
Period of inhaler use (years)	5.0 (6.5)	3.3 (2.7)	0.99
Freq of inhaler use (per day)	2.2 (0.5)	2.2 (0.7)	0.93
Type of Inhaler (MDI:DPI:MDI + DPI)	9:20:10	3:7:2	0.81
Presence of comorbidities	10	4	0.60
Taking antipsychotic drugs	9	3	0.89
Stage of COPD (1, 2, 3, 4)	8, 14, 13, 4	2, 8, 2, 0	0.24
FEV1% predicted value (%)	58.7 (19.0)	67.3 (15.8)	0.16
FEV1/FVC (%)	48.5 (14.6)	56.8 (12.4)	0.13
Freq of exacerbations (/year)	0.8 (1.4)	0.4 (1.2)	0.34
Overall mean adherence score	4.6 (0.6)	3.9 (1.0)	0.022
SGRQ scores
Symptoms (0–100)	51.6 (22.6)	45.1 (15.1)	0.43
Activities (0–100)	51.4 (26.7)	37.5 (24.6)	0.16
Impacts (0–100)	29.6 (17.5)	25.7 (26.2)	0.37
Total (0–100)	42.5 (19.7)	34.3 (24.8)	0.25

Abbreviations: COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; MDI, metered dose inhaler; DPI, dry powder inhaler; FEV, forced expiratory volume; FVC, forced vital capacity; SGRQ, St George Respiratory Questionnaire.