OBJECTIVES: To investigate the characteristics, medication persistence and healthcare consumption of asthma and COPD patients in the Netherlands in 2011. METHODS: Data were obtained from the PHARMO Database Network, including outpatient drug dispensings, hospitalization records and information from general practitioners (GP). From the GP-database, patients with a recorded ICPC-code for asthma or COPD (period 2001-2010) were selected and included if they were continuously registered in 2010-2011 and had ≥1 respiratory dispensing in 2010. Persistence with any respiratory medication was determined among new patients and defined as the number of days of uninterrupted use. RESULTS: The study included 6037 asthma and 4489 COPD patients. In 2011, most asthma patients were most often categorized into GINA I (n=1727), female (60%) and had a mean age of 45 (SD±18) years. COPD patients were classified as GOLD II (n = 1485), male (54%) and had a mean age of 67 (SD±11) years. On January 1, 2011, most common used respiratory treatment among asthma patients was fixed-dose combination of LABA+ICS (FDC) (25%), whereas COPD patients mostly either used FDC (14%), LAMA (14%) or both (15%). 30% Of asthma and 16% of COPD patients did not use respiratory medication. Among new asthma patients, after six and twelve months, 22% and 10% of patients were persistent with respiratory medication. These proportions were 42% and 30% for COPD. Most common selected co-morbidities among both groups were hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and depression. In 2011, asthma patients consulted their GP on average 5.3 times and COPD patients 7.7 times. On average, asthma patients were 0.4 days hospitalized and COPD patients 1.2 days. Cost calculations for healthcare consumption are available in November.  CONCLUSIONS: This study provides an overview of the characteristics and healthcare consumption of asthma and COPD patients in the Netherlands, and emphasizes the need for more research regarding persistence among these patients.