Introduction: Because adherence to asthma controller medication among adolescents and young adults is poor but critical for asthma control, strategies are needed to improve adherence. One strategy is to reduce the number of daily doses necessary to maintain adequate control. Mometasone furoate delivered through a dry powder inhaler (MF-DPI) is an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) approved for once-daily dosing in most patients. Fluticasone propionate (FP) is an ICS approved for twice-daily dosing. A retrospective claims analysis was performed to assess treatment adherence and markers of asthma control in adolescent and young adult patients with mild asthma who began treatment with MF-DPI or FP.
Methods: Data from approximately 37 million patients in an administrative insurance claims database in the United States were analyzed. Patients, 12-25 years, with mild asthma and previous asthma medication use were assigned an index date based on their first prescription fill of MF-DPI or FP between 1 January 2005 and 10 October 2008. Demographics, prescription claims, and health care utilization data were captured in the 365-day period before (preindex) and after (postindex) the index date. Patients from each cohort were propensity score-matched 1:1 based on preindex data. Adherence was measured by prescription fills and percentage of days covered (PDC); asthma control was measured by exacerbations and short-acting β₂-agonist (SABA) canister claims. Bivariate and multivariate generalized linear model (GLM) analyses were conducted to determine differences in outcomes between the cohorts.
Results: After matching, 692 patients per group (average age - 16 years) were analyzed. Adherence in the postindex period was significantly higher in the MF-DPI cohort compared with the FP cohort as measured by PDC (23.5% vs. 14.5%; p< .0001) and prescription fills (2.70 vs. 1.91; p< .0001). The mean number of postindex SABA canister claims was significantly lower in the MF-DPI cohort compared with the FP cohort (1.04 vs. 1.40; p< .0001). There was no significant difference in the mean number of postindex exacerbations between the cohorts.
Conclusion: Adolescent/young adult patients with mild asthma who received MF-DPI had better postindex adherence and fewer SABA canister claims than patients receiving FP.