Table 1.

Resource consumption associated with inhalation errors

	COPD (n=864)				Asthma (n=703)
	At least a critical inhaler error*		% difference in health care resource use due to critical inhaler errors	Absolute difference in health care resource use/100 patients	At least a critical inhaler error*		% difference in health care resource use due to critical inhaler errors	Absolute difference in health care resource use/100 patients
	Yes	No			Yes	No
Hospital admissions, %
Never	55	62			76	86
1	26	23	3	3	13	9	4	4
2–3a	16	11	5	12.5	9	3	6	15
>3b	3	4	−1	−4	2	2	0	0
Total variation errors vs no errors/100 patients				11.5				19
Emergency department visits, %
Never	64	71			69	81
1	24	22	2	2	16	11	5	5
2–3a	10	4	6	15	10	3	7	17.5
>3b	2	3	−1	−4	5	4	1	4
Total variation errors vs no errors/100 patients				13				26.5
Antimicrobial courses, %
Never	20	30			34	41
1	31	29	2	2	25	30	−5	−5
2–3a	33	26	7	17.5	17	18	−1	−2.5
>3b	15	15	0	0	14	11	3	12
Total variation errors vs no errors/100 patients				19.5				4.5
Corticosteroid courses, %
Never	29	37			27	35
1	19	22	−3	−3	35	30	5	5
2–3a	26	30	−4	−10	19	22	−3	−7.5
>3b	26	11	15	60	19	13	6	24
Total variation errors vs no errors/100 patients				47				21.5

Notes:

^aConsidered as 2.5 admissions/courses of treatment,

^bconsidered as 4 admissions/courses of treatment.

^*Reprinted from Respir Med, 2011;105(6), Melani AS, Bonavia M, Cilenti V, et al, Inhaler mishandling remains common in real life and is associated with reduced disease control, pages 930–938,¹² Copyright © 2011, with permission from Elsevier.

Abbreviation: COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.