The Prescription Trend Analysis of the Use of Inhalers in Taiwanese Asthmatics

Object The purpose of this study was to assess the use of inhalers for the treatment of asthmatics in Taiwan between 2000 and 2006. MethodsReferring to the data of the period from January 2000 to December 2006 from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, the percentage of inhaler users among all asthma patients in Taiwan was analyzed. Drugs were classified according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System. The Cochran-Armitage test for trend was used to determine if there were a trend in prescribing rates of inhalers. All analyses were conducted by SAS 9.1 statistical software. ResultsA total of 39,377 patients met the criteria for asthma (ICD-9-CM code: 493.xx), and of these 8,460 (21.48%) were prescribed at least 1 canister of inhaled anti-asthmatic drugs. The percentage of the total number of inhaler users increased gradually from 16.06% in 2000 to 24.71% in 2006. The users of fixed combination inhalers ICS/LABA dramatically increased from 2.09% in 2002 to 13.18% in 2006. With increased use of ICS/LABA, the use of both LABA and ICS decreased over time. Inhaled SABA decreased from 7.80% in 2000 to 7.11% in 2006. Pediatricians accounted for most of the anti-asthmatic prescriptions (28.46%-32.38%) in the research period. However, pulmonologists prescribed the majority of inhaler prescriptions (35.14%-41.21%). ConclusionOur study indicated a significant upward trend of total inhaler use during the study period. We also found that the use of fixed combination inhalers of ICS/LABA increased dramatically after both drugs were introduced into Taiwan.