Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients' experience using Trelegy as compared with other inhalers

Trelegy is a combination inhaler that is often reported to offer benefits over multiple inhalers. We compared Trelegy use with multiple inhalers for adherence, symptoms, medication beliefs, and medication attitudes.

This cross-sectional survey of 58 patients compared the patient's experience with Trelegy (n = 18) versus any other inhaler (n = 40). Outcome variables consisted of Test of the Adherence to Inhalers scale, the Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Assessment Test (CAT) scale, attitude items from the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire, the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ)-necessity subscale, and the BMQ-concerns subscale.

We found that patients using Trelegy had greater CAT symptoms (M = 19.8, SD = 7.75) in comparison with the any other inhaler group (M = 15.7, SD = 11.10; P = 0.04). We did not find any difference between the groups for adherence or any of the medication attitudes or beliefs. CAT score was positively correlated with the number of months patients were on their current inhaler (r = 0.29, P < 0.05) and their use of a rescue inhaler (r = 0.42, P < 0.01). Patients with more concern about their medications were negatively correlated with the use of a rescue inhaler (r = -0.31, P < 0.05).

We found that patients using Trelegy had greater symptoms in comparison with the any other inhaler group, but did not differ for adherence, medication attitudes, or medication beliefs.

We recommend that clinicians should regularly re-evaluate their Trelegy recommendations, as Trelegy use may not be the best therapy for certain patients. Also, a study with a larger sample size can be beneficial to confirm these findings.