Pharmacy-Based Disease Management Program Reduced COPD Symptoms

A poster presented at the ASHP 2017 Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exposition found that a pharmaceutical care based disease management program improved outcomes for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients.

Charleston Ribeiro, PhD, and colleagues from the Lindemberg Assunção Costa Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, sought to “evaluate the effectiveness of a pharmaceutical care based disease management program on dyspnea symptoms and quality of life in patients with COPD in the Brazilian health system setting.”

The researchers conducted a comparative study that measured the efficacy of two strategies for COPD management: the intervention program vs standard care. The study included 206 patients with moderate to very severe COPD. Patient disease severity was measured using spirometric diagnosis. They evaluated the efficacy of the intervention program by comparing dyspnea symptoms using modified medical research council scores, and quality of life scores, measured by the airways questionnaire 20.

The pharmacy-based disease management program involved continuous and free dispersion of COPD-related pharmaceuticals.

Study results showed that the intervention program reduced the frequency of symptomatic patients by 30.9%. Furthermore, they measured a significant increase in quality of life scores after the intervention was imitated.

“A pharmaceutical care-based disease management program with free and continuous dispensing of medicines is an effective strategy to improve the well-being and symptoms of patients with COPD,” Dr Ribeiro and colleagues concluded.

—David Costill