Switching to the Dry Powder Inhaler: Disease Control with a Lower Carbon Footprint

Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) have a 20-40-fold lower carbon footprint compared to pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs). Switching from pMDI to DPI is therefore beneficial from an environmental perspective, but many health care professionals are concerned that this may worsen treatment outcomes in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

We analyzed patient outcomes and carbon footprints of switching inhaler treatment from pMDI to DPI. We performed a post hoc analysis on clinical outcomes data from a 12-week real-world, non-interventional study of adult patients with asthma or COPD who switched treatment from pMDI to the budesonide-formoterol Easyhaler DPI. Clinical end points included asthma control test (ACT), Mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (Mini-AQLQ), lung function tests, and reliever use (asthma), and COPD assessment test (CAT), and modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale (mMRC) (COPD). In the carbon footprint calculation, we used estimates from the Montreal Protocol for pMDI and for DPI the estimate as reported.

Among all 237 patients (142 asthma, 95 COPD) by switching their treatment clinical improvements were observed in all the outcome measures (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the need for reliever medication decreased among patients with asthma (p < 0.001). The amount of estimated kg CO₂e emissions per year for maintenance treatment was 97.0% lower for the DPI than for pMDI. For reliever medication among patients with asthma, it was 99.6% lower. Among them, the emission savings could amount to approximately 131 kg CO₂e annually. This is of similar magnitude, as individual high-impact environmental actions such as eating a plant-based diet or purchasing green energy.

Our results show that disease control was maintained among patients with asthma or COPD when they switched from pMDI to DPI, while the carbon footprint of inhaler treatment was reduced.