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. 2013 Apr 3;32(5):269–274. [Article in Spanish] doi: 10.1016/S0212-6567(03)79273-7

¿Siguen utilizando incorrectamente los inhaladores nuestros pacientes asmáticos?

Do our asthma patients still use inhalers incorrectly?

X Flor Escriche a, M Rodríguez Mas b,, L Gallego Álvarez c, I Álvarez Luque b, J Juvanteny Gorgals d, MM Fraga Martínez e, L Sánchez Pinacho e
PMCID: PMC7669205  PMID: 14519287

Abstract

Aim

To determine how skilled our patientswith asthma are in performing different stepsin the use of different inhalation devices, andto identify variables that may influence correctinhalation technique (IT)

Design

Descriptive, cross-sectional study

Setting

An urban primary care center

Participants

141 patients with asthma

Main outcome measures

Performance of apractical test to evaluate each step in IT fordifferent devices according to SEPARsemFYCguidelines. One point was scored foreach step that was performed correctly, andthe technique was considered correct if thetotal score was >9. The main outcome variablewas the percentage of patients who performedthe IT correctly

Results

About three-fourths of theparticipants (77.3%) were women; mean agewas 56.08±18.99 years. Inhalation techniquewas incorrect in 53.9% of the patients(51.06% of those who used a pressurizedcanister inhaler, 59.1% of those who used aPCI+spacer, 38.5% of those who used aTurbuhaler, and 37.5% of those who used anAccuhaler). The highest error rates were seenin exhaling completely before beginning theinhalation (63.78%), holding the breath afterinhalation for as long as possible (65.94%),and breathing out slowly after the inhalation(64.86%).Better IT was seen in younger patients withhigher levels of education (P=.007). Therewere no statistically significant differences inthe rest of the variables

Conclusions

A large percentage of patientsperformed inhalations incorrectly.We cannotconclude that any given device is superior. Thevariables related with correct IT were age andlevel of education. Greater health educationefforts are needed to teach patients how to useinhalation systems correctly

Key words: Asthma, Inhalation technique, Health education, Primary care

EAP Chafarinas. SAP Nou Barris. ICS. Barcelona. España

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