Results
A total of 66 patients, 33 women and 33 men, were included in the study. While 42 of these patients were followed up with a diagnosis of COPD, 24 of them were followed up with a diagnosis of asthma. The mean age of the patients was 63.1 ± 13.3 years. Disease duration was 9.0 ± 8.4 in patients with COPD, while it was 13.8 ± 12.6 in patients with asthma. The characteristics of the study group are presented in Table 1.
According to the patients’ own statements, the number of patients who regularly used the prescribed inhaler treatment was 59 (89.4%) while the number of patients who said they used it irregularly was only 7 (10.6%). According to the statements of their relatives, 17 (28.8%) of 59 patients who stated that they used the prescribed inhaler treatment regularly used their treatment irregularly (Table 2). There was no statistically significant difference in terms of age, gender, education level, smoking, diagnosis and duration of disease between adherents and non-adherents according to the patient’s own statement (Table 3). Subjects who stated that they used inhaler treatment regularly were grouped into two according to their relatives’ statements; 1) patients who are reported to use the treatment regularly by their relatives 2) patients whose relatives stated that they did not use their treatment regularly. It was seen that duration of obstructive lung disease was 12.1 ± 11.0 years versus 6.9 ± 6.9 years in the two groups respectively (p=.045). Other parameters including gender distribution, smoking status, diagnosis of asthma or COPD, educational level, and mean age (years) were not statistically different between the two groups (Table 4).