Cision–Aerocrine AB (OMX Nordic Exchange: AERO) announces that a clinical trial published in The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine shows that FeNO-testing is an excellent tool for identifying patients that don’t adhere to treatment.
The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine published on December 1, 2012, the results of a clinical study done at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The results show how fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) measurement is an excellent tool for identifying patients who did not use their prescribed inhaled corticosteroids, i.e. did not adhere to treatment. Identifying non-adherence to medication is important because it allows improved patient characterization and tailoring of asthma management to individual needs, which, in turn, results in better patient outcomes at lower cost. Aerocrine’s patented FeNO test, with the NIOX MINO® device, was used in the study.
The UK study is entitled: The Utility of Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide Suppression in Identification of Nonadherence in Difficult Asthma; its purpose was to identify a test for non-adherence using fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) suppression after directly observed inhaled corticosteroid treatment. The study concluded that the FeNO suppression test can identify whether or not patients use their inhaled corticosteroid therapy properly and if patients who fill their prescriptions took their medicine. Non-adherence is common and ranges from 35-65%.
An editorial in the same journal stated that there are studies which suggest that FeNO measurements may be used to confirm non-adherence with inhaled corticosteroid therapy in children. But no study has yet investigated the same measurements in adults. The editorial concludes that “the strength of the study justify the introduction of this test in clinical practice”.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airways disease that is characterized by symptoms including wheezing and difficulty in breathing. Asthma is one of the world’s most common and costly diseases; it affects 8-10% of the population and is associated with enormous healthcare expenditures that include direct and indirect costs. The disease has no cure, and proper diagnosis and management are crucial for improved quality of life for the patients. FeNO measurement enables physicians to better assess and manage patients with allergic airway inflammation.
References
McNicholl, D.M., M. Stevenson, L.P. McGarvey, and L.G. Heaney, “The Utility of Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide Suppression in the Identification of Nonadherence in Difficult Asthma.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2012. 186(11): p. 1102-1108. http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/content/186/11/1102.abstract
Bel, E.H., “Measuring adherence to inhaled corticosteroids in asthma: getting closer!” Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 2012. 186(11): p. 1067-8.
SOURCE: Aerocrine AB
