Improvement of medication adherence of asthma patients in North Macedonia

Aim: Asthma, as a chronic respiratory disease, is usually treated with inhalation therapy. Asthma patients' adherence to prescribed therapy depends on the type of medication and inhalation technique and is crucial to controlling the disease and improving quality of life.
The aim of this research is to identify questionnaires available for use in North Macedonia and evaluate the need of updating asthma guidelines to improve medication adherence.
Methods: Literature research was performed through PubMed search (keywords: asthma patients, medication adherence, guidelines) and BiblioPRO International for analysis of questionnaires for measuring adherence in asthma patients (English and Macedonian language). General principles of Gina main report were compared with the guideline for long-term treatment of asthma in North Macedonia. Data on medication adherence, inhalation technique, and personalized care framework were extracted.
Results: Our research in PubMed and the comparison of guidelines determined that the guideline in North Macedonia provides only basic information for long-term asthma treatment. This guideline does not present any recommendations or guidelines for monitoring patient adherence. Through the process of analyzing the questionnaires, our research has shown that there are no questionnaires in Macedonian language.
Discussion and conclusion: The conducted research has indeed confirmed that it is extremely important to update the guideline in North Macedonia. By introducing questionnaires adapted for the country, with performing both translation and cultural adaptation, a better asthma control and increase of the awareness of medication adherence among patients with asthma can be achieved.