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At what age do children start taking daily asthma medicines on their own?
Joan K Orrell-Valente1, Leah G Jarlsberg, Laura G Hill
1Department of Pediatrics, Philip Lee Institute of Health Policy Studies, University of California, Division of Adolescent Medicine, 3333 California St, LH 245, Box 0503, San Francisco, CA 94143-0503, USA. joan.valente@ucsf.edu
Insights
Children increasingly manage their asthma controller medications as they age, with significant responsibility assumed by age 7. This highlights the need for early education on medication management for young asthmatics and their families.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pulmonology
- Asthma Management
- Adolescent Health
Background:
- Daily controller medications are crucial for persistent asthma management.
- Understanding the progression of medication responsibility in children is key.
- Adherence to controller medications impacts long-term asthma control.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between child age and daily controller medication responsibility.
- To identify predictors of child medication responsibility and adherence.
- To examine the link between child responsibility and overall medication adherence.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional telephone survey of 351 parents of children on daily controller medications.
- Assessed child and parent medication responsibility and adherence via parent report.
- Multivariate linear regression used to analyze associations with demographic and clinical factors.
Main Results:
- Child medication responsibility significantly increased with age, reaching 50% by age 11 and 100% by age 19.
- Child age and male gender predicted higher medication responsibility.
- Child age and parental race/ethnicity predicted medication adherence.
Conclusions:
- Clinicians should assess children's medication management capabilities early.
- Educational interventions for asthma medication use should include children of all ages.
- Family-centered education is vital for effective asthma management in pediatric populations.
Objective:
Use of daily controller medications is a critical task in management of persistent asthma. Study aims were to examine (1) the association between child age and extent of daily controller-medication responsibility in a sample aged 4 to 19 years, (2) parent, child, and disease predictors of child daily controller-medication responsibility and overall daily controller-medication adherence, and (3) the association between child daily controller-medication responsibility and overall daily controller-medication adherence.
Methods:
We conducted a cross-sectional telephone survey of 351 parents of children who were prescribed daily controller medication. Children's mean age was 10.4 years; 61.5% were male, and 88.1% were white. Parents provided all data, including an estimate of the percentage of child and parent daily controller-medication responsibility. Daily controller-medication adherence was measured as parents' report of percentage of daily doses taken per doses prescribed in a typical week. We used multivariate linear regression to determine associations between parent race/ethnicity, education, income, number of dependents, child age, gender, years since diagnosis, parent perception of symptom severity and control, and dependent variables (child daily controller-medication responsibility and daily controller-medication adherence). We also examined associations between child daily controller-medication responsibility and daily controller-medication adherence.
Results:
Child daily controller-medication responsibility increased with age. By age 7, children had assumed, on average, almost 20% of daily controller-medication responsibility; by age 11, approximately 50%; by age 15, 75%; and by age 19, 100%. In multivariate models, child age and male gender remained significantly associated with child daily controller-medication responsibility, and child's age and parents' race/ethnicity remained significantly associated with daily controller-medication adherence.
Conclusions:
Clinicians may need to screen for child daily controller-medication management and include even young children when educating families on the use of asthma medications and other key asthma-management tasks.
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