Doctors at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago report that children and adolescents used inhalers with medications incorrectly in half of the cases, which led to a significant decrease in the dose of the medicine.
Researchers have published the results of observations of the process of inhalation in children hospitalized with bronchial asthma and members of the highest risk of severe complications and even death caused by the disease. A total of 113 children and adolescents aged 2 to 16 years were under observation.
It turned out that 42% of them constantly miss at least one important step in the inhalation procedure. So, 18% of children do not use the spacer – this is a plastic device that is attached to the inhaler and is designed to improve the delivery of the drug to the patient’s airway. Moreover, this problem was mainly characteristic of teenagers, who claimed that only kids need spacers.
Doctors remind that the use of spacers is also relevant for adults, and even more so for adolescents. Earlier studies have shown that the use of a spacer increases the amount of medicine that enters the body from 34 to 83%.
The researchers emphasize that today most people can live, effectively managing the course of asthma, but for this you need to properly use your inhaler – this is a key point in the treatment of bronchial asthma. Improper inhalation technique increases the risk of hospitalization of children.Therefore, doctors and parents should teach young patients how to take medicine.