PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Harjit Dumra AU - Arjun Khanna AU - Sujeet Madhukar AU - Meena Lopez AU - Rashmi Hegde AU - Jaideep Gogtay AU - Dr. Sandeep More TI - Patients’ and caregivers’ perceptions toward nebulization therapy for COPD: The first quantitative survey done in India AID - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2021.PA3901 DP - 2021 Sep 05 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - PA3901 VI - 58 IP - suppl 65 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/58/suppl_65/PA3901.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/58/suppl_65/PA3901.full SO - Eur Respir J2021 Sep 05; 58 AB - Background: There is paucity of Indian data on nebulizer usage, patients’ and caregivers’ attitudes towards nebulization in COPD.Objective: Survey aimed to evaluate Indian adult male and female patients’ and caregivers’ attitudes and perceptions towards nebulization for COPD management.Methods: Survey was conducted from July-August 2019 among 103 COPD patients [>40 years] receiving home nebulization (>3 weeks), and their caregivers, to assess usage, satisfaction, perceived benefits and concerns with nebulizers.Results: Overall, 54% patients were on nebulizer regimen for >8 weeks (occasionally/daily) and 27% patients used nebulizers daily for home maintenance. Key benefits of nebulizers perceived by patients were easier breathing (93%), ease of use (89%) and fewer doctor visits (86%) while caregivers cited reduced hospitalization (76%), easier breathing (75%) and better control on overall symptoms (73%). Patients perceived short-term duration of effect (61%), social embarrassment (54%) and device being bulky and noisy (50%) as major concerns for nebulizers; while caregivers cited multiple uses per day (45%) and social embarrassment (43%). Among patients prescribed inhaler therapy earlier, 72% felt nebulizers gave long-term relief compared to inhalers. 61% patients opined that benefits with nebulizers outweighed the inconvenience associated with its use. Overall 99% patients reported satisfaction with nebulizers.Conclusion: This first of its kind survey demonstrated that majority of COPD patients and their caregivers were satisfied with nebulizers, with reported benefits of reduced hospitalization, better symptom control and ease of use.FootnotesCite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2021; 58: Suppl. 65, PA3901.This abstract was presented at the 2021 ERS International Congress, in session “Prediction of exacerbations in patients with COPD”.This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).