Results Although highlighting a general lack of high- quality real-life effectiveness observational research on these clinical ly important topics , the analysis provided insights into how identified observational studies might inform asthma guidelines developers and clinicians .
Overall , RELEVANT appeared reliable and easy to use by expert review ers .
Conclusions Using such quality appraisal tools is m and atory to assess whether specific observational real-life effectiveness studies can be used to inform guideline development and /or decision-making in clinical practice
Abstract Introduction A Task Force was commissioned jointly by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology ( EAACI ) and the Respiratory Effectiveness Group ( REG ) to develop a  quality assessment tool for real-life observational research to identify high- quality real-life asthma studies that could be considered within future guideline development .
Pharmaceutical care for patients with persistent asthma: assessment of treatment compliance and use of inhaled medications.
OBJECTIVE To evaluate treatment compliance and use of inhaled medications of patients with asthma receiving complementary pharmaceutical care . METHODS A controlled prospect i ve parallel study involving a study group and a control group . We selected 60 patients with persistent asthma and using metered-dose inhalers ( MDIs ) , dry powder inhalers ( DPIs ) or both .  The patients were evaluated three times over 60 days . Instructions were provided to the patients in the study group at all visits but only at the first visit to those in the control group . The patients using < 80 % or > 120 % of the total number of prescribed doses were classified as noncompliant . The inhalation technique was quantified by a scoring system . A satisfactory technique was defined as a score higher than 7 ( maximum , 9 ) for MDIs and higher than 4 ( maximum , 5 ) for DPIs . RESULTS The final study sample comprised 28 study group patients and 27 control group patients , of whom 18 ( 64.3 % ) and 20 ( 74.7 % ) , respectively , were considered treatment compliant . From the first to the third visits , there were increases , in the study and control groups , in the median MDI-use score ( from 3 [ range , 0 - 5 ] to 8 [ range , 8 - 9 ] ; p < 0.001 ; and from 5 [ range , 2 - 6 ] to 7 [ range , 6 - 8 ] ) , as well as in the median DPI-use score ( from 3 [ range , 2 - 4 ] to 5 [ range , 4 - 5 ] and from 3 [ range , 2 - 4 ] to 4 [ range , 3 - 5 ] ) . CONCLUSIONS The counseling provided by the pharmacist to the patient was important to assist in the implementation of the appropriate inhalation technique , especially for MDI use
Results Although highlighting a general lack of high- quality real-life effectiveness observational research on these clinical ly important topics , the analysis provided insights into how identified observational studies might inform asthma guidelines developers and clinicians .
Overall , RELEVANT appeared reliable and easy to use by expert review ers .
Conclusions Using such quality appraisal tools is m and atory to assess whether specific observational real-life effectiveness studies can be used to inform guideline development and /or decision-making in clinical practice
Abstract Introduction A Task Force was commissioned jointly by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology ( EAACI ) and the Respiratory Effectiveness Group ( REG ) to develop a  quality assessment tool for real-life observational research to identify high- quality real-life asthma studies that could be considered within future guideline development .