BACKGROUND: In Japan, there have been few reports about drug compliance, which is an important determinant of effectiveness, in the management of bronchial asthma patients. To clarify drug compliance and its relationship with various aspects of asthma management, a questionnaire survey was performed on asthmatic patients and their pharmacists.
METHODS: This survey was carried out, from October to November in 2001. The subjects were limited to the regular inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) users, and were restricted to patients whose medication had not been changed for at least 6 months before the survey. The questionnaires inquired about asthma status, various factors that have been reported to be associated with drug compliance and asthma management. Patients' pharmacists were asked about prescribed medications and drug compliance based on the pharmaceutical records.
RESULTS: Completed questionnaires were received from 610 patients. ICS compliance was not lower than that of anti-allergic drug but lower than that of oral sustained-released theophylline (OSRT) . Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant correlation between ICS and OSRT compliance.
CONCLUSION: These results might suggest that OSRT could improve patient's compliance to drug therapy through its bronchodilatory effect, thus resulting in better compliance to ICS. If this were the case, OSRT would play an important role in asthma management.

Objective: To develop an effective and safe therapeutic strategy, we studied the effect of the clinical characteristics of patients with acute drug intoxication on the duration of hospitalization.
Subjects and Methods: The subjects were 89 patients hospitalized for acute drug intoxication. They were divided into two subgroups; the short hospitalization group (duration of hospitalization < 7 days) and the long hospitalization group (duration of hospitalization ≥ 7 days). We compared age, sex, vital signs, drugs, and therapy between the two groups.
Results: There were no significant differences in sex or severity of consciousness disturbance between the short- and long-hospitalization groups. Age in the latter group was higher than that in the former, and age was significantly and positively correlated with the duration of hospitalization. Prolongation of hospitalization in patients with Japan Coma Scale (JCS) I or II is associated with psychiatric disease, and in patients with JCSIII, with physical disease. We used direct hemoperfusion (DHP) to treat patients with severe acute drug intoxication. The duration of hospitalization in patients treated by DHP tended to be shorter than those not so treated.
Conclusions: The present results suggest that aging is associated with prolongation of hospitalization and the onset of physical disease among patients with acute drug intoxication. When elderly patients with acute drug intoxication are treated in a primary-care setting, the question of whether or not physical diseases are present as complications should be considered. The appropriate use of DHP for the treatment of patients with severe acute drug intoxication requires further study.