Albuterol vs. SABA: Real-World Inhaler Characteristics Compared

This article is part of MPR‘s coverage of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, taking place in Orlando, Florida. Our staff will report on medical research related to asthma and other respiratory conditions, conducted by experts in the field. Check back regularly for more news from AAAAI/WAO 2018.

More patients using albuterol multidose dry powder inhalers saw respiratory specialists and had severe disease at baseline compared with patients using short-acting β2 agonists (SABA) with pressurized metered-dose inhalers, according to data presented at AAAAI 2018.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study using data from a nationally representative managed care database, including patients with asthma older than 4 years and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) older than 40 years. Participants included in the study received at least 1 albuterol multidose dry powder inhaler prescription or any SABA pressurized metered-dose inhaler prescription between April 2015 and March 2016.

The study included 2140 patients using albuterol multidose dry powder inhalers (1244 with asthma; 896 with COPD) and 230,822 patients using SABA pressurized metered-dose inhalers (172,911 with asthma; 57,911 with COPD). The investigators assessed baseline patient demographics, provider specialty, disease severity, comorbidities, and healthcare resource use over the course of 6 months before the first SABA fill date.

Compared with patients using SABA pressurized metered-dose inhalers at baseline, patients using albuterol multidose dry powder inhalers were elderly, were predominantly women among patients with asthma, had higher baseline comorbidities, had more respiratory specialty visits, and had higher respiratory-related ambulatory visits (P <.05).

The results showed that greater proportions of patients using albuterol multidose dry powder inhalers had more severe disease at baseline compared with patients using SABA pressurized metered-dose inhalers (asthma, 12.71% vs 8.13%; COPD, 28.57% vs 23.37%; P <.05). In addition, patients using albuterol multidose dry powder inhalers had more asthma exacerbations compared with patients using SABA pressurized metered-dose inhalers (7.64% vs 1.40%; P <.05) but similar COPD exacerbations (19.08% vs 21.30%; P =.108).

“Further research may elucidate how patient characteristics (eg, disease severity, comorbidities) influence SABA inhaler choice,” the researchers noted.

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Reference

Bensch G, Parker ED, Ariely R, et al. Real-world study characterizing patients prior to receiving albuterol multidose dry powder inhaler or short-acting β2-agonist via pressurized metered-dose inhalers for asthma and COPD in the United States. Presented at: AAAAI/WAO Joint Congress; March 2-5, 2018; Orlando, FL. Abstract 653.

This article originally appeared on Pulmonology Advisor