title: Understanding the relationship among pharmacoadherence measures, asthma control test scores, and office-based spirometry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study used accepted asthma metrics and pharmaceutical claim data to develop a new asthma metric as a possible surrogate for spirometry and to better assess asthma control.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To develop and validate a new asthma metric called the Rescue Index (RI) based on β(2)-agonist dispensings and to test the feasibility of a multivariate model to construct a global asthma metric called the Asthma Control Index (ACI).
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective, observational, multicenter cohort study was conducted at the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) and at the Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS). Pharmacy claim data were correlated with the ACT, Medication Adherence Report Scale for Asthma (MARS-A), and spirometry using univariate and multivariate analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 263 individuals enrolled in the study, and 95 (PVAHCS) and 156 (NMCSD) individuals completed the study. In the PVAHCS, the ACT correlated with the asthma medication ratio (AMR) (ρ = 0.37, P < .001) and inversely correlated with the RI (ρ = -0.33, P = .001), the RI inversely correlated with forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)) (ρ = -0.22, P = .03) and the FEV(1) to forced vital capacity ratio (ρ = 0.22, P = .03). In the NMCSD population, the ACT correlated with the MARS-A (ρ = 0.23, P = .006), FEV(1) did not correlate with ACT (ρ = 0.09, P = .25) or MARS-A (ρ = 0.16, P = .047) but directly correlated with the RI (ρ = 0.19, P = .03). The AMR was strongly inversely correlated with RI in both populations (-0.74, P < .001 in the PVAHCS group and -0.78, P < .001 in the NMCSD group). When multivariate models were applied to the NMCSD and PVAHCS groups, the combination of RI and MARS-A was the best predictor of spirometry.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The RI shows promise as a new asthma metric because it correlated with AMR in both cohorts. However, because RI correlated with adult spirometry and ACT only, further validation studies are needed before RI may be included in an ACI metric.
authors: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Naval Medical Center, San Diego, California, USA.
authors: Henry A
authors: HA
authors: Wojtczak
authors: Allan M
authors: AM
authors: Wachter
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Lee
authors: Lisa
authors: L
authors: Burns
authors: Joseph S
authors: JS
authors: Yusin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D055118:Medication Adherence; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013147:Spirometry