Incorporating adherence in cost-effectiveness analyses of asthma: a systematic review

Acoustic biomarkers in asthma: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

Current monitoring methods of asthma, such as peak expiratory flow testing, have important limitations. The emergence of automated acoustic sound analysis, capturing cough, wheeze, and inhaler use, offers a promising avenue for improving asthma diagnosis and monitoring. This systematic review evaluated the validity of acoustic biomarkers in supporting the diagnosis of asthma and its monitoring.

DATA SOURCES

A search was performed using two databases (PubMed and Embase) for all relevant studies published before November 2023.

STUDY SELECTION

27 studies were included for analysis. Eligible studies focused on acoustic signals as digital biomarkers in asthma, utilizing recording devices to register or analyze sound.

RESULTS

Various respiratory acoustic signal types were analyzed, with cough and wheeze being predominant. Data collection methods included smartphones, custom sensors and digital stethoscopes. Across all studies, automated acoustic algorithms achieved average accuracy of cough and wheeze detection of 88.7% (range: 61.0 - 100.0%) with a median of 92.0%. The sensitivity of sound detection ranged from 54.0 to 100.0%, with a median of 90.3%; specificity ranged from 67.0 to 99.7%, with a median of 95.0%. Moreover, 70.4% (19/27) studies had a risk of bias identified.

CONCLUSIONS

This systematic review establishes the promising role of acoustic biomarkers, particularly cough and wheeze, in supporting the diagnosis of asthma and monitoring. The evidence suggests the potential for clinical integration of acoustic biomarkers, emphasizing the need for further validation in larger, clinically-diverse populations.

Trend of Bronchial Hyperresponsiveness to Methacholine as a Cost Predictor of Mild-to-Moderate Asthma: A Twelve-Month Survey in Teenagers

Bronchial asthma is characterized by variable airflow obstruction, airway inflammation, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to non-specific stimuli. The role of underlying airway inflammation and of related long-lasting BHR has been suboptimally investigated in teenagers with mild-to-moderate asthma, as has the corresponding economic impact over time. The aim of the present study was to calculate the cost of mild-to-moderate atopic asthma in teenagers arising from their degree of persisting BHR over a twelve-month period.

METHODS

Patients aged 12-18 years with mild-to-moderate symptoms treated with fluticasone fumarate/vilanterol 92/22 mcg daily were retrospectively followed for 12 months. Usual spirometric parameters, BHR to methacholine (MCh), and resource consumption (visits, hospitalizations, systemic steroids and/or antibiotics courses, school days off) were assessed at recruitment (the index date) and after 6 and 12 months. Adherence to treatment was also calculated. The cost of asthma was calculated based on Italian tariffs and published papers. The trend over time in BHR and the association between response to MCh and total cost were investigated by using regression models adjusted for repeated measures.

RESULTS

106 teenagers (53 males, age 15.9 ± 1.6 years) were investigated. The annual cost of asthma proved significantly related to the BHR trend: every increment of a factor 10 in the response to MCh was associated with a saving of EUR 184.90 (95% CI -305.89 to -63.90). BHR was progressively optimized after 6 and 12 months in relation to the patients' compliance to treatment (≥70% of prescribed inhalation doses).

CONCLUSIONS

the usual spirometric parameters are largely insufficient to reflect the effects of underlying persistent inflammation in milder forms of asthma in teenagers. In terms of clinical governance, the periodic assessment of non-specific BHR is the appropriate procedure from this point of view. Non-specific BHR proves a reliable procedure for predicting and monitoring the economic impact of mild-to-moderate asthma in teenagers over time.

Considering patient perspectives in economic evaluations of health interventions

Current guidelines for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of health interventions commonly recommend the use of a payer and/or a societal perspective. This raises the concern that the resulting reimbursement decision may overlook the full spectrum of impacts and equity considerations. In this paper, we argue that a potential solution is to supplement a societal- or payer-perspective economic evaluation with an additional evaluation accounting for exclusively the patient perspective. We present five categories of health interventions for which a patient-perspective analysis may be informative including those (1) that cross the definitional boundary between drugs and non-drug technologies; (2) affect patient adherence to protocol; (3) represent revolutionary treatments for genetic disorders; (4) with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio involving slightly less effective, but substantially less costly, than the current standard; and (5) have been previously approved for funding but now being targeted for potential delisting or disinvestment. Real-world examples are discussed in detail. Lived experience individuals were invited to provide vignettes. Discussions are provided regarding how to incorporate patient inputs to improve patient-centered decision-making.

Estimating medication adherence from Electronic Health Records: comparing methods for mining and processing asthma treatment prescriptions

BACKGROUND

Medication adherence is usually defined as the extent of the agreement between the medication regimen agreed to by patients with their healthcare provider and the real-world implementation. Proactive identification of those with poor adherence may be useful to identify those with poor disease control and offers the opportunity for ameliorative action. Adherence can be estimated from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) by comparing medication dispensing records to the prescribed regimen. Several methods have been developed in the literature to infer adherence from EHRs, however there is no clear consensus on what should be considered the gold standard in each use case. Our objectives were to critically evaluate different measures of medication adherence in a large longitudinal Scottish EHR dataset. We used asthma, a chronic condition with high prevalence and high rates of non-adherence, as a case study.

METHODS

Over 1.6 million asthma controllers were prescribed for our cohort of 91,334 individuals, between January 2009 and March 2017. Eight adherence measures were calculated, and different approaches to estimating the amount of medication supply available at any time were compared.

RESULTS

Estimates from different measures of adherence varied substantially. Three of the main drivers of the differences between adherence measures were the expected duration (if taken as in accordance with the dose directions), whether there was overlapping supply between prescriptions, and whether treatment had been discontinued. However, there are also wider, study-related, factors which are crucial to consider when comparing the adherence measures.

CONCLUSIONS

We evaluated the limitations of various medication adherence measures, and highlight key considerations about the underlying data, condition, and population to guide researchers choose appropriate adherence measures. This guidance will enable researchers to make more informed decisions about the methodology they employ, ensuring that adherence is captured in the most meaningful way for their particular application needs.

The Extra Cost Due to Non-Adherence to Inhaled Treatments in Adolescents with Mild-to-Moderate Persistent Asthma

Bronchial asthma has a high socio-economic impact in Western countries. Low adherence to prescribed inhalation treatments contributes to poor asthma control and the higher utilization of healthcare resources. Although adolescents usually do not comply with long-term inhaled treatments prescribed on a regular basis, the related economic consequences still are poorly investigated in Italy.

AIM

A 12-month estimation of the economic impact of non-adherence to inhalation treatments in adolescents with mild-to-moderate atopic asthma.

METHODS

Non-smoking adolescents aged 12-19 years, without any significant comorbidity, prescribed with inhaled cortico-steroids (ICS) or ICS/long-acting beta(2)-adrenergics (LABA) via dry powder inhalers (DPIs) on a regular basis were automatically selected from the institutional database. Spirometric lung function, clinical outcomes, and pharmacological information were collected. The adolescents' adherence to their prescribed regimen was calculated monthly. Adolescents were divided in two sub-groups based on their adherence to prescriptions: ≤70% (not adherent) or >70% (adherent), and statistically compared (Wilcoxon test, assuming p < 0.05).

RESULTS

Overall, 155 adolescents fulfilled the inclusion criteria (males, 49.0%; mean age, 15.6 years ± 2.9 SD; mean BMI, 19.1 ± 1.3 SD). Mean values of lung function were: FEV1 = 84.9% pred. ± 14.8 SD, FEV1/FVC = 87.9 ± 12.5 SD; MMEF = 74.8% pred. ± 15.1 SD and V25 = 68.4% pred. ± 14.9 SD. ICS had been prescribed in 57.4% of subjects and ICS/LABA in 42.6%. Mean adherence to original prescriptions was 46.6% ± 9.2 SD in non-adherent and 80.3% ± 6.6 SD in adherent adolescents, respectively (p < 0.001). The mean rates of hospitalizations, exacerbations, and GP visits; the average duration of absenteeism; the frequency of systemic steroids and antibiotics courses needed over the study period were significantly and substantially lower in adolescents adherent to prescriptions (all p < 0.001). The mean total annual extra cost calculated in the two sub-groups was EUR 705.8 ± 420.9 SD in non-adherent adolescents and EUR 192.1 ± 68.1 SD in adherent adolescents, respectively (p < 0.001), which was 3.7 times higher than in non-adherent adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

In adolescents, the clinical control of mild-to-moderate atopic asthma is directly and strictly related to the degree of adherence to prescribed inhalation therapies. All clinical and economic outcomes prove dramatically poor when adherence is low, and treatable asthma can be frequently mistaken for refractory asthma in these cases. Adolescents' non-adherence impacts the burden of the disease quite substantially. Much more effective strategies centered specifically on adolescents' asthma are needed.

Predictors of success/failure in the control of asthmatic smoking patients under conditions of clinical practice

BACKGROUND

Tobacco smoking directly affects the airway, where it triggers a very strong local inflammatory response.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the predictors of improvement or worsening of asthma control in asthmatic smokers.

METHODS

Observational, prospective, multicenter, single cohort study, carried out in the outpatient pulmonology departments with a follow-up period of 6 months. The treatment was adjusted according to the indications of standard clinical practice.

RESULTS

196 patients were included, with a mean age of 54.64 years.39% of the patients were active smokers. Interpreting an Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) score of ≤ 0.75 as asthma control, this was achieved in 30.2% of the cases. Patients with greater adherence were more likely to improve their asthma symptoms (p < 0.05), defined as a decrease in ACQ of 0.5 points or more at the final visit, while taking concomitant medication was a negative risk factor for improvement (p < 0.001). An eosinophil value >300 was a predictor for achieving control (p < 0.01). Patients treated with fluticasone propionate/formoterol versus those receiving budesonide/formoterol or beclomethasone/formoterol had a lower ACQ score (p < 0.01 and p < 0.01, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Asthmatic patients with active tobacco exposure and a higher number of anti-asthma medications are more likely to have poorer control. Correct adherence to treatment is the main intervention to be performed to achieve the control. An eosinophil count greater than 300 was the main predictor for achieving control. Fluticasone propionate/formoterol FP/FORM was associated with a greater likelihood of improving ACQ score.

Cost Utility of Bronchial Thermoplasty for Severe Asthma: Implications for Future Cost-Effectiveness Analyses Based on Phenotypic Heterogeneity

Background

Asthma is a disease with tremendous phenotypic heterogeneity, and the patients who are most severely impacted by the disease are high utilizers of the United States healthcare system. In the past decade, there has been many advances in asthma therapy for those with severe disease, including the use of a procedure called bronchial thermoplasty (BT) and the use of biologic therapy for certain phenotypes, but questions remain regarding the long-term durability and cost effectiveness of these therapies. The purpose of this analysis was (1) to assess the cost utility of BT relative to usual care (base case) and (2) to assess the cost utility of BT relative to usual care plus biologic therapy (omalizumab) (scenario analysis) based on updated 10-year clinical trial outcomes.

Methods

A Markov cohort model was developed and used to estimate the cost utility of BT to estimate the costs and quality-of-life impact of BT versus the comparisons over a 10-year time frame using a limited societal perspective, which included both direct health utilization costs and indirect costs associated with missed days of work, among those with severe persistent asthma.

Results

In the base case and the scenario analysis, BT was the dominant treatment strategy compared to usual care alone and usual care plus biologic therapy. The net monetary benefit for BT was $483,555.49 over a 10-year time horizon.

Conclusion

Cost-utility models are central to policy decisions dictating coverage, and can be extended to inform the patient and provider, during clinical decision-making, of the relative trade-offs of therapy, assessing long-term clinical and cost outcomes. Phenotypic classification of severe asthma is central to patient management and should also be integrated into economic analysis frameworks, particularly as new biologic agents are developed that are specific to a phenotype. Despite a larger upfront cost of BT therapy, there is a durable clinical and economic benefit over time for those with severe asthma.

The pharmacoeconomics of the state-of-the-art drug treatments for asthma: a systematic review

Asthma is a chronic disease characterized by significant morbidities and mortality, with a large impact on socio-economic resources and a considerable burden on health-care systems. In the standard care of asthma, inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) associated with long-acting β-adrenoceptor agonists (LABA) are a reliable and often cost-effective choice, especially if based on the single inhaler therapy (SIT) strategy; however, in a subset of patients it is not possible to reach an adequate asthma control. In these cases, it is possible to resort to other pharmacologic options, including corticosteroids (OCS) or biologics. Unfortunately, OCS are associated with important side effects, whilst monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) allow excellent results, even if far more expensive. Up to now, the economic impact of asthma has not been compared with equivalent indicators in several studies. In fact, a significant heterogeneity of the cost analysis is evident in literature, for which the assessment of the real cost-effectiveness of asthma therapies is remarkably complex. To maximize the cost-effectiveness of asthma strategies, especially of biologics, attention must be paid on phenotyping and identification of predictors of response. Several studies were included, involving comparative analysis of drug treatments for asthma, comparative analysis of the costs and consequences of therapies, measurement and evaluation of direct drug costs, and the reduction of health service use. The initial research identified 389 articles, classified by titles and abstracts. A total of 311 articles were excluded as irrelevant and 78 articles were selected. Pharmacoeconomic studies on asthma therapies often report conflicting data also due to heterogeneous indicators and different populations examined. A careful evaluation of the existing literature is extremely important, because the scenario is remarkably complex, with an attempt to homogenize and interpret available data. Based on these studies, the improvement of prescriptive appropriateness and the reduction of the use of healthcare resources thanks to controller medications and to innovative therapies such as biologics partially reduce the economic burden of these treatments. A multidisciplinary stakeholder approach can also be extremely helpful in deciding between the available options and thus optimizing healthcare resources.