Online Survey to Investigate Asthma Medication Prescription and Adherence from the Perspective of Patients and Healthcare Practitioners in England [Letter]

Dear editor

I have read the research article entitled “Online Survey to Investigate Asthma Medication Prescription and Adherence from the Perspective of Patients and Healthcare Practitioners in England” by Zhang and Quint.¹ I want to congratulate the authors on this successful article and make some contributions. There are two strengths of this study: 1) it provides valuable insight into the motivations behind the choice of inhaler use and the potential challenges associated with non-adherence to medication and prescribing practices. These findings suggest there is room for improvement in asthma control and High short-acting β2-agonist (SABA) prescribing practices and suggest opportunities for more targeted education for patients and HCPs, leading to effective utilization of healthcare resources and improved asthma control. 2) highlight the importance of developing personalized self-management care plans for patients involving mobile technology interventions and, where possible, annual reviews of inhaler use and techniques for symptom management and control.

However, I identified two limitations of this study: 1) the self-reported nature of the survey may lead to inconsistencies in responses, potentially leading to over- or under-reporting of SABA use and may lead to misclassification of results. 2) online data collection, although cost-effective, tends to have a high non-response rate, and the small sample size in this study was insufficient to detect differences between groups.

Three solutions can be considered to overcome future research limitations: 1) diversify data collection methods using additional data collection methods (such as direct observation or medical records to verify information obtained from surveys).² 2) use of clear and precise instructions in survey questions (avoid ambiguous or duplicate questions that may confuse).³ 3) validation of data reported by respondents using additional data sources or medical validation and use of mixed methods (such as clinical data or direct observation) to strengthen the validity and reliability of the results.⁴

In conclusion, research, accompanied by a thorough explanation of its methods and findings, is essential in advancing healthcare practice and improving patient outcomes.