The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Factors associated with completion of a behavioral intervention for caregivers of urban children with asthma.
Rates of preventive follow-up asthma care after an acute emergency department (ED) visit are low among inner-city children. We implemented a novel behavioral asthma intervention, Pediatric Asthma Alert (PAAL) intervention, to improve outpatient follow-up and preventive care for urban children with a recent ED visit for asthma. ⋯ The majority of caregivers of high-risk children with asthma were successfully engaged in this home and PCP-based intervention. Caregivers of older children with asthma and those with high stress may need additional support for program completion. Further, the lack of an asthma action plan may be a marker of preexisting barriers to preventive care.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
The efficacy and tolerability of intravenous montelukast in acute asthma exacerbations in Japanese patients.
In Japan, the Asthma Prevention and Management Guidelines recommend nebulized β-agonists, IV (intravenous) drip corticosteroids, as well as IV drip aminophylline for acute asthma treatment. However, current treatment for acute asthma provides inadequate benefit for some patients. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of IV montelukast added to standard therapy in Japanese patients with acute asthma exacerbations. ⋯ IV montelukast was significantly more effective than placebo in the improvement of ΔFEV(1) in Japanese patients, suggesting its role as an adjunctive therapy to existing guideline recommendations.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cost benefits of a peer-led asthma self-management program for adolescents.
Frequent use of health-care services associated with pediatric asthma places substantial economic burden on families and society. The purpose of this study is to examine the cost-saving effects of a peer-led program through reduction in health-care utilization in comparison to an adult-led program. ⋯ An asthma self-management program using peer leaders can potentially yield health-care cost savings through the reduction in acute office visits in comparison to a traditional program led by health-care professionals.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effectiveness of educational interventions on asthma self-management in Punjabi and Chinese asthma patients: a randomized controlled trial.
Asthma tends to be less well controlled among ethnic minority groups, and its prevalence in new immigrants increases significantly the longer they are in Canada; mainly due to their lack of familiarity with English and difficulty understanding information regarding the disease, health literacy, cultural issues, housing conditions, and lack of access to appropriate care services. ⋯ Participants performed significantly better at follow-up than they did at baseline assessment, with the most notable improvements observed in the group that watched both community and knowledge videos. The results suggest that short, simple, culturally, and linguistically appropriate interventions can promote knowledge gain about asthma and improve inhaler use that can be sustained over the short term. Such interventions that provide authentic learning materials that draw on patients' life experiences and sociocultural context can overcome certain limitations of conventional patient education approaches.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Effect of omalizumab as add-on therapy on asthma-related quality of life in severe allergic asthma: a Brazilian study (QUALITX).
To assess the impact of omalizumab as an add-on therapy to standard treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and long-acting beta-2 agonists (LABA) on asthma-related quality of life (QoL) in patients with severe allergic asthma. ⋯ Omalizumab was well tolerated and significantly improved the overall AQLQ score. Hence, it is a potential add-on therapy for severe persistent allergic asthma not controlled by standard prescribed treatment in Brazilian patients.