New data presented recently indicate that use of a wearable ventilator system in COPD patients is associated with significant improvement in healthcare utilization and overall respiratory health status.
Study findings were released at the annual American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST 2015) meeting in Montreal, Canada. The data were presented by Neil MacIntyre, MD, FAARC, a pulmonologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, and included an economic analysis.
Patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency frequently suffer from exacerbations, resulting in increased physician office visits, time in the emergency room, and hospital admissions, MacIntyre noted.
“The data analyzed in this study further reinforce current clinical evidence that wearable ventilator technology can improve healthcare utilization measures across a wide spectrum of parameters, help patients with chronic respiratory disease better manage their conditions, and have the potential to significantly decrease healthcare expenditures,” he reported at the conference.
The study evaluated 16 stable oxygen-dependent patients with moderate to very severe COPD who were using a one-pound wearable system as a complement to their standard medical care regimen. In addition to statistically significant health care utilization across four of five healthcare utilization measures (emergency room visits, hospital days, hospital ICU days and mechanical ventilations), researchers estimated total cost reductions across the study population of between 68% and 96%. Office visits were the only measure that did not achieve significant decreases in frequency or cost.
Additionally, results from two validated patient reported measures of respiratory status were collected. COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scores improved significantly in the post-NIOV implementation period.
