University of St. Gallen Researchers Add New Study Findings to Research in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Medication adherence halves COPD patients’ hospitalization risk – evidence from Swiss health insurance data): Lung Diseases and Conditions – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

2024 MAR 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been published. According to news reporting from the University of St. Gallen by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Medication adherence is vital for patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to mitigate long-term consequences.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from University of St. Gallen: “The impact of poor medication adherence on inferior outcomes like exacerbations leading to hospital admissions is yet to be studied using real-world data. Using Swiss claims data from 2015-2020, we group patients into five categories according to their medication possession ratio. By employing a logistic regression, we quantify each category’s average treatment effect of the medication possession ratio on hospitalized exacerbations. 13,557 COPD patients are included in the analysis. Patients with high medication adherence (daily medication reserve of 80% to 100%) are 51% less likely to incur exacerbation following a hospital stay than patients with the lowest medication adherence (daily medication reserve of 0% to 20%). The study shows that medication adherence varies strongly among Swiss COPD patients.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Furthermore, high medication adherence immensely decreases the risk of hospitalized exacerbations.”

For more information on this research see: Medication adherence halves COPD patients’ hospitalization risk - evidence from Swiss health insurance data. npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine, 2024,34(1):1-7. (npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine - https://www.nature.com/npjpcrm/). The publisher for npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine is Nature Portfolio.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41533-024-00361-2.

Our news journalists report that more information may be obtained by contacting Anja Y. Bischof, School of Medicine, University of St. Gallen. Additional authors for this research include Johannes Cordier, Justus Vogel, Alexander Geissler.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)