Chest
Clinical Investigations: Asthma: Comparative Study: Journal Article: Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tA Comparison of Breath-Actuated and Conventional Metered-Dose Inhaler Inhalation Techniques in Elderly Subjects
Section snippets
Subjects
Elderly subjects familiar with the use of MDIs were recruited from the population of patients referred for pulmonary function testing to the Pulmonary Function Laboratory of The Toronto Hospital, Western site. Elderly volunteers unfamiliar with the use of MDIs were recruited by word of mouth and by posted advertisement in the hospital and adjacent senior citizen facilities. Subjects were considered eligible for participation in the study if they were aged 63 years and older, indicated a
Student Characteristics
Eighty elderly subjects were recruited for participation in the study, 40 (24 men, 16 women) who were familiar with the use of MDIs and 40 (17 men, 23 women) who were unfamiliar with these devices. The mean age was 70.8±5.4 years (range, 63 to 85 years), the average age not being significantly different between MDI-familiar and MDI-unfamiliar groups. Spirometric endpoints differed significantly between MDI-familiar and MDI-unfamiliar groups. The FVC was 2.65± 0.95 L in the familiar group and
Discussion
Our data show clearly that elderly subjects use conventional MDIs poorly whether familiar with or unfamiliar with these devices. However, elderly subjects, regardless of previous MDI experience, handle a breath-actuated inhaler more successfully. Although subjective monitoring of inhaler use will often detect patients who use these devices poorly, objective monitoring is more stringent and will detect more patients who have problems with inhalation technique.
Our finding of frequent improper use
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are indebted to Dr. J. Szalai for his expert statistical advice, to Mr. A. Salmon for his technical aid, and to Ms. A. Norton for her assistance with preparation of the manuscript.
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Cited by (0)
The work was supported in part by a grant from the Asthma Society of Canada and by educational grants from Glaxo Canada and 3M Pharmaceuticals, United States.