Patient education in asthmatic adults.

Despite the advances in the understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms, clinical assessment, and medical treatment of asthma, an increase of mortality and morbidity has been observed. It is clear from several studies, however, that this discrepancy may be at least partly due to serious defects, among asthmatic patients, in the ability to judge the severity of their asthma, and in the knowledge of medication and the correct action to take, when deterioration occurred. Therefore, to effectively manage asthma, structured education programs for adult asthmatics appear to be useful including information about the disease and the medication as well as training of self-management of airflow limitation by the patients. The evaluation of the course of the disease before and after the education revealed a reduction of severe attacks, hospitalizations, and days lost from work in trained asthmatics.