Patients with COPD are required to take long-term treatments to treat their chronic disease and avoid further complications. However, lack of adherence is very common and represents major barriers to treatment efficiency. Measuring patient acceptance of their medication should help to better understand and predict patients' medication-taking behavior.

OBJECTIVES : The objectives of this study are to evaluate the level of acceptance to medication in patients with COPD in real life; to identify issues and to define priorities for action.

METHODS : This is an observational, cross-sectional study conducted in Europe using Carenity Online Community. Adult COPD patients were invited to complete an online questionnaire including a validated patient reported outcome measure: the 25-item ACCEptance by the Patients of their Treatment (ACCEPT©). It includes one general acceptance dimension (Acceptance/General) and five multi-item treatment-attribute specific dimensions: Acceptance/Medication Inconvenience, Acceptance/Long-term Treatment, Acceptance/Regimen Constraints, Acceptance/Side Effects, Acceptance/Effectiveness, scored from 0-100 (lowest to highest acceptance). Patients were categorized according to their main treatment class: adrenergics, inhalants; other drugs for obstructive airway diseases, inhalants; other COPD treatment.

RESULTS : CONCLUSIONS : Treatment acceptance is not satisfactory in COPD. Patients’ treatment acceptance is primarily driven by its effectiveness and limitations for COPD. These findings give indications about patients’ priorities and unmet needs for COPD.