Weekly self-monitoring and treatment adjustment benefit patients with partly controlled and uncontrolled asthma: an analysis of the SMASHING study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Internet-based self-management has shown to improve asthma control and asthma related quality of life, but the improvements were only marginally clinically relevant for the group as a whole. We hypothesized that self-management guided by weekly monitoring of asthma control tailors pharmacological therapy to individual needs and improves asthma control for patients with partly controlled or uncontrolled asthma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a 1-year randomised controlled trial involving 200 adults (18-50 years) with mild to moderate persistent asthma we evaluated the adherence with weekly monitoring and effect on asthma control and pharmacological treatment of a self-management algorithm based on the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ). Participants were assigned either to the Internet group (n = 101) that monitored asthma control weekly with the ACQ on the Internet and adjusted treatment using a self-management algorithm supervised by an asthma nurse specialist or to the usual care group (UC) (n = 99). We analysed 3 subgroups: patients with well controlled (ACQ ≤ 0.75), partly controlled (0.75>ACQ ≤ 1.5) or uncontrolled (ACQ>1.5) asthma at baseline.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall monitoring adherence was 67% (95% CI, 60% to 74%). Improvements in ACQ score after 12 months were -0.14 (p = 0.23), -0.52 (p < 0.001) and -0.82 (p < 0.001) in the Internet group compared to usual care for patients with well, partly and uncontrolled asthma at baseline, respectively. Daily inhaled corticosteroid dose significantly increased in the Internet group compared to usual care in the first 3 months in patients with uncontrolled asthma (+278 μg, p = 0.001), but not in patients with well or partly controlled asthma. After one year there were no differences in daily inhaled corticosteroid use or long-acting β₂-agonists between the Internet group and usual care.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Weekly self-monitoring and subsequent treatment adjustment leads to improved asthma control in patients with partly and uncontrolled asthma at baseline and tailors asthma medication to individual patients' needs.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN79864465</p

Using the ecology model to describe the impact of asthma on patterns of health care

BACKGROUND: Asthma changes both the volume and patterns of healthcare of affected people. Most studies of asthma health care utilization have been done in selected insured populations or in a single site such as the emergency department. Asthma is an ambulatory sensitive care condition making it important to understand the relationship between care in all sites across the health service spectrum. Asthma is also more common in people with fewer economic resources making it important to include people across all types of insurance and no insurance categories. The ecology of medical care model may provide a useful framework to describe the use of health services in people with asthma compared to those without asthma and identify subgroups with apparent gaps in care. METHODS: This is a case-control study using the 1999 U.S. Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Cases are school-aged children (6 to 17 years) and young adults (18 to 44 years) with self-reported asthma. Controls are from the same age groups who have no self-reported asthma. Descriptive analyses and risk ratios are placed within the ecology of medical care model and used to describe and compare the healthcare contact of cases and controls across multiple settings. RESULTS: In 1999, the presence of asthma significantly increased the likelihood of an ambulatory care visit by 20 to 30% and more than doubled the likelihood of making one or more visits to the emergency department (ED). Yet, 18.8% of children and 14.5% of adults with asthma (over a million Americans) had no ambulatory care visits for asthma. About one in 20 to 35 people with asthma (5.2% of children and 3.6% of adults) were seen in the ED or hospital but had no prior or follow-up ambulatory care visits. These Americans were more likely to be uninsured, have no usual source of care and live in metropolitan areas. CONCLUSION: The ecology model confirmed that having asthma changes the likelihood and pattern of care for Americans. More importantly, the ecology model identified a subgroup with asthma who sought only emergent or hospital services

Early detection and counselling intervention of asthma symptoms in preschool children: study design of a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background. Prevention of childhood asthma is an important public health objective. This study evaluates the effectiveness of early detection of preschool children with asthma symptoms, followed by a counselling intervention at preventive child health centres. Early detection and counselling is expected to reduce the prevalence of asthma symptoms and improve health-related quality of life at age 6 years. Methods/design. This cluster randomised controlled trial was embedded within the Rotterdam population-based prospective cohort study Generation R in which 7893 children (born between April 2002 and January 2006) participated in the postnatal phase. Sixteen child health centres are involved, randomised into 8 intervention and 8 control centres. Since June 2005, an early detection tool has been applied at age 14, 24, 36 and 45 months at the intervention centres. Children who met the intervention criteria received counselling intervention (personal advice to parents to prevent smoke exposure of the child, and/or referral to the general practitioner or asthma nurse). The primary outcome was asthma diagnosis at age 6 years. Secondary outcomes included frequency and severity of asthma symptoms, health-related quality of life, fractional exhaled nitric oxide and airway resistance at age 6 years. Analysis was according to the intention-to-treat principle. Data collection will be completed end 2011. Discussion. This study among preschool children provides insight into the effectiveness of early detection of asthma symptoms followed by a counselling intervention at preventive child health centres. Trial registration. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN15790308

The Impact of Allergy and Pulmonary Specialist Care on Emergency Asthma Utilization in a Large Managed Care Organization

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the longitudinal impact of asthma specialist care on the risk of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalization for asthma. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: A prospective cohort study using both telephone survey and computerized utilization data. STUDY DESIGN: We recruited a prospective cohort of 4,742 adult members of a closed panel managed care organization who were hospitalized for asthma (the “baseline hospitalization”). DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Visits to asthma specialists were ascertained from computerized utilization databases. Specialist visits after baseline hospitalization were defined as time-dependent covariates. An alternative analysis defined specialist visits during the year preceding baseline hospitalization. A subcohort of 596 subjects completed telephone interviews. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Compared with subjects who received no specialist visits after baseline hospitalization, treatment by allergists (hazard ratio (HR) 1.04; 95 percent confidence interval (CI) 0.87–1.26) or pulmonologists (HR 0.92; 95 percent CI 0.71–1.19) was not associated with a reduction in the risk of future ED visits for asthma in the entire cohort, controlling for age, sex, race, recent asthma medication dispensing, and pharmacy benefits status. There was also no association between allergist visits and the risk of subsequent hospitalizations for asthma (HR 0.93; 95 percent CI 0.75–1.14). In contrast, visits to pulmonologists (HR 0.74; 95 percent CI 0.55–0.99) were related to a reduced risk of rehospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary specialist visits appeared to reduce the risk of hospitalization for asthma, whereas asthma specialist visits did not reduce the risk of ED visits. In the context of comprehensive prepaid health care, the benefit of specialist care was modest