Mild symptoms of anxiety can actually drive adherence to inhaled therapy, researchers have discovered.

Patients who reported mild symptoms of anxiety were less likely to report adherence issues with inhaled antibiotic treatment compared to patients with no anxiety or elevated levels of anxiety, the study of 76 patients with CF aged over 14 years found.

Mild symptoms of anxiety are of benefit to patients and should be considered normal, concluded the study authors from the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Ulm University in Germany.

“Interventions involving strategies to improve adherence  for CF patients with elevated symptoms of anxiety and with absent anxiety are recommended,” they said.