Usage Pattern, Satisfaction, Causes of Concern and Related Factors of Metered Dose Inhalers in Children with Asthma, the Parents Perspective

Introduction  Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs) are the most common drugs for the control of asthma. This study was conducted to evaluate usage patterns, satisfaction with and concerns about MDIs for children with asthma and the related factors from the viewpoints’ of their parents. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted on children with asthma who referred to asthma and allergy clinics in two teaching hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Results The mean and SD of age of the patients were 7.58±4.01 years. More than 95% of the patients were taking anti-asthmatic drugs at the time of the study. Of the patients who used anti-asthmatic drugs, 86.6% were using MDIs alone or in combination with oral anti-asthmatic drugs. Of patients who took MDIs, 73.7% were using a combination of bronchodilator and corticosteroid, 22% bronchodilator alone, and 2.3% corticosteroids alone. More than 91% of the parents were satisfied and 95.9 % of them were concerned about the usage of MDIs. Dependence to MDIs (90.1%) and high costs of MDIs (81.3%) were the most frequent causes of concern about MDIs usage.   Conclusion  Despite high satisfaction of parents with MDIs for control of asthma in children, concerns of parents about MDIs usage can cause the deprivation of children from these highly effective drugs. Proper education can correct attitudes of patients or parents and decrease their concerns about MDIs usage.