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Educational intervention improves clinical outcomes for patients with asthma

The use of an asthma education program for patients with mild to moderate uncontrolled asthma significantly improved clinical outcomes after 3 months, according to results of a randomized, controlled, multicenter study.

Vicente Plaza, MD, PhD, of the department of respiratory medicine at Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues evaluated 230 patients with mild to moderate uncontrolled asthma.

Researchers randomly assigned some patients to undergo an asthma education program that consisted of four face-to-face sessions. The sessions were held at 3-month intervals.

During the meetings, patients received inhaler technique training and a personalized action plan.

Other study participants received usual clinical care.

Specialized centers using a standard educational program were considered the “gold standard” group.

Researchers reported significant improvement in Asthma Control Test scores for patients in all three groups (P < .001); however, the improvements were significantly higher in the education and gold standard groups (P = .042).

Researchers observed fewer mean exacerbations in the education group (1.2 ± 2.02) and gold standard group (0.56 ± 1.5) than the usual care group (2.04 ± 2.72).

They also reported significantly improved Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire scores in the education group (0.95 ± 1.04) and gold standard group (0.89 ± 0.84) than the usual treatment group (0.52 ± 0.97). – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.