Adherium’s Smartinhaler dramatically improves clinical outcomes and medication adherence in children with asthma

Trial results also provide a cost-saving argument for introducing Smartinhaler into routine practice.

The year-long STAAR study was carried out at Sheffield Children’s Hospital in the UK, led by the University of Sheffield’s Dr Robert Morton and colleagues. The aim of the study was to assess whether introducing digital adherence monitoring into routine practice could improve clinical outcomes in children with poorly controlled asthma.

Dr Robert Morton, lead investigator at Sheffield Children’s Hospital said: “This study provides good evidence that adherence monitoring with feedback can significantly improve clinical outcomes when used in the management of children with poorly controlled asthma. The benefits of the intervention were sustained over a prolonged period of time, and we have shown that this approach can be effectively administered in a clinically practical way. We would recommend this approach to be integrated into the standard care of children with poorly controlled asthma.”

The very positive findings from this study are welcomed in the context of the ‘Connected Asthma’ report published by Asthma UK in August 2016, which highlighted that a child is admitted to hospital every 20 minutes because of an asthma attack. It concluded that existing digital technologies should be introduced to patients to improve asthma care and that more should be done to ensure that people with asthma are able to benefit from a connected way of managing their condition.

Seventy-seven of the 90 recruited children completed the STAAR study. Thirty-eight children were in the intervention group using Smartinhaler adherence monitoring with medication reminders and feedback in the clinic, and 39 children received usual care as part of a control group. Drug use data were collected and children’s health outcomes were assessed at each 3-month follow-up.

Adherence to prescribed medication averaged 70% in the intervention group, compared to 49% in the control group. The use of the Smartinhaler significantly increased medication adherence and this was maintained over the 12-month period. Nearly half of the children in the Smartinhaler intervention group maintained average adherence rates of >80% over the 12 months.

The adherence improvement was associated with significant reduction in asthma exacerbations - episodes of progressively worsening shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing and chest tightness - which can be life threatening. The need for a course of oral steroids, a marker of severe exacerbations, was 53% more common in the usual care group compared to the intervention group. Furthermore, the hospitalization rate was five times greater in the control compared to the Smartinhaler intervention group (p<0.001). This approximates to the prevention of 12 hospitalizations in one year among the children in the intervention group, making a cost-saving argument for introducing Smartinhaler into routine practice.

Garth Sutherland, CEO of Adherium said: “Seeing a significant increase in medication adherence and reduction in asthma exacerbations combined with a reduction in children being admitted to hospital is proof of the clinical effectiveness of our Smartinhaler technology. The impact of adherence monitoring on the health of patients is clear and we continue to work with our partners to make it accessible to all those who would benefit.”