Does the Use of Asthma-Controller Medication in Accordance with Guidelines Reduce the Incidence of Acute Exacerbations and Healthcare Costs?

• Published in: Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases Vol. 85; no. 1; pp. 11 - 17
• Main Authors: Lee, Suh-Young, Kim, Kyungjoo, Park, Yong Bum, Yoo, Kwang Ha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 01-01-2022; 대한결핵및호흡기학회
• Subjects: asthma; costs and cost analysis; disease management; health-effect assessment; Original; 내과학; Health-Effect Assessment; Disease Management; Costs and Cost Analysis; Asthma
• ISSN: 1738-3536; 2005-6184
• DOI: 10.4046/TRD.2021.0087

In asthma, consistent control of chronic airway inflammation is crucial, and the use of asthma-controller medication has been emphasized. Our purpose in this study is to compare the incidence of acute exacerbation and healthcare costs related to the use of asthma-controller medication.
By using data collected by the National Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, we compared one-year clinical outcomes and medical costs from July 2014 to June 2015 (follow-up period) between two groups of patients with asthma who received different prescriptions for recommended asthma-controller medication (inhaled corticosteroids or leukotriene receptor antagonists) at least once from July 2013 to June 2014 (assessment period).
There were 51,757 patients who satisfied our inclusion criteria. Among them, 13,702 patients (26.5%) were prescribed a recommended asthma-controller medication during the assessment period. In patients using a recommended asthma-controller medication, the frequency of acute exacerbations decreased in the follow-up period, from 2.7% to 1.1%. The total medical costs of the controller group decreased during the follow-up period compared to the assessment period, from $3,772,692 to $1,985,475. Only 50.9% of patients in the controller group used healthcare services in the follow-up period, and the use of asthma-controller medication decreased in the follow-up period.
Overall, patients using a recommended asthma-controller medication showed decreased acute exacerbation and reduced total healthcare cost by half.