TY - JOUR T1 - A virtual asthma clinic for children: Improved asthma control, less hospital visits JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.OA4777 VL - 46 IS - suppl 59 SP - OA4777 AU - Lara Van den Wijngaart AU - Jolt Roukema AU - Peter Merkus Y1 - 2015/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/OA4777.abstract N2 - Introduction: One of the novelties in asthma care are digital tools, introduced to improve asthma education, knowledge, management, and outcome. In addition to regular visits, these tools have proven valuable. However, it has not been investigated whether these tools can substitute regular visits, and yet help to improve asthma control.Aims and objectives: The aim of the study was to assess whether asthma control could be improved through a virtual asthma clinic (VAC) for children with asthma, while reducing the regular visits to the outpatient clinic by 50%.Methods: To evaluate the efficacy of the VAC compared to usual care, 210 children (6-16 yrs) were included in this prospective, 8-centre, randomized study of 16 months duration. Usual care consisted of 4-monthly visits to the outpatient clinic and a digital age-specific questionnaire on asthma control (ACT) and the Pediatric Quality of Life Questionnaire at 0, 8 and 16 months. In the VAC group, children were followed online with a monthly ACT and were checked at the outpatient clinic every 8 months. Lung function (expressed as % of predicted FEV1), asthma control and quality of life were compared between both groups.Results: After 16-months follow-up, the ACT was significantly higher in the VAC group than in the control group (p=0.02). Within the VAC group, both asthma control (p=0.03) and quality of life improved significantly (p=0.04). Lung function remained the same in both groups.Conclusion: While reducing the visits to the outpatient clinic by 50%, improvements in asthma control and quality of life were achieved in children with asthma who received care through a virtual asthma clinic. ER -