Treatment decisions: insights from people with asthma or COPD and their healthcare providers on disease and treatment decisions

Ruth Tal-Singer¹, Miguel Román-Rodríguez^2,3, Ilona McMullan⁴, Michelle Warner⁴, Christopher Compton⁴, Jean Orlow⁵, MeiLan K Han⁶

¹Global Allergy and Airways Patient Platform, Vienna, Austria; ²Centro de Salud Dra. Teresa Pique, Mallorca, Spain; ³Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de las Islas Baleares (IdISBa), Mallorca, Spain; ⁴GSK, London, UK; ⁵COPD patient and COPD Foundation community member; ⁶University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Plain Language Summary What is this summary about?

This research gathered insights on the physical, mental, and emotional impact of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on people. It also looked at how these lung diseases impacted diagnosis, disease management, and health outcomes.

What are the key takeaways?

• In our research, we found that patients often delay seeking medical help until symptoms impact their daily lives including, for example, issues with sleep, exercise, work, relationships, and mental health.
• A need for better understanding of how to correctly use medications was observed. In this research, patients wanted to know how long it takes to feel improvements after taking a medication. If they have other medical conditions, patients and caregivers want to know about possible side effects. They often used social media or consulted their healthcare providers (HCPs) to improve their understanding and empower themselves in managing their health.

What were the main conclusions reported by the researchers?

• The research concludes that improved access to reliable, trusted information couldimprove patients’ understanding of their disease. This understanding could also improve patients’ communication and partnership with HCPs, helping make informed treatment decisions (shared decision making).

What is the purpose of this plain language summary?

The purpose of this plain language summary is to help you understand the findings from recent research. The results of this research may differ from those of other studies. HCPs should make treatment decisions based on all available evidence, not on the results of a single study.

Link to original article here