Abstract
We assessed the effectiveness of an asthma educational programme based on a repeated short intervention (AEP-RSI) to improve asthma control (symptom control and future risk) and quality of life.
A total of 230 adults with mild-to-moderate persistent uncontrolled asthma participated in a 1-year cluster randomised controlled multicentre study. The AEP-RSI was given in four face-to-face sessions at 3-month intervals, and included administration of a written personalised action plan and training on inhaler technique. Centres were randomised to the AEP-RSI (intervention) group or usual clinical practice group. Specialised centres using a standard educational programme were the gold standard group.
A significant improvement in the Asthma Control Test score was observed in all three groups (p<0.001), but improvements were higher in the intervention and gold standard groups than in the usual clinical practice group (p=0.042), which also showed fewer exacerbations (mean±sd; 1.20±2.02 and 0.56±1.5 versus 2.04±2.72, respectively) and greater increases in the Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire scores (0.95±1.04 and 0.89±0.84 versus 0.52±0.97, respectively).
The AEP-RSI was effective in improving asthma symptom control, future risk and quality of life.
Abstract
An educational programme based on a repeated short intervention for asthma is effective and easily to use in practice http://ow.ly/QUEx7
Footnotes
Editorial comment in: Eur Respir J 2015; 46: 1262–1264 [DOI: 10.1183/13993003.01303-2015].
Clinical trial: This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov with identifier number NCT01282359.
Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside the online version of this article at erj.ersjournals.com.
Support statement: This study was funded by the Integrated Research Asthma Programme (PII Asthma) of the Spanish Respiratory Society (SEPAR). Unconditional funding was provided by Chiesi, who did not participate in data collection, interpretation of the results or writing of the manuscript.
- Received March 21, 2015.
- Accepted July 9, 2015.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015