Asthma education and its impact on pediatric asthma severity: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE

Asthma education has been shown to improve asthma control. Our goal was to evaluate the efficacy of asthma education on the frequency of utilization of health-care services, lung function results, degree of asthma severity, and quality of life (QOL) level in children with asthma.

METHODS

A single-arm prospective interventional trial was conducted in a tertiary facility. Thirty children with asthma and their parents were recruited for the research. Following an assessment of the participants' and caregivers' knowledge about asthma using an asthma knowledge questionnaire, degree of asthma control using asthma control test, inhaler technique using standardized inhaler technique checklists, and QOL using pediatric asthma QOL questionnaires, they participated in a three-month education program in the form of monthly live interactive sessions followed by weekly phone interviews. Measures taken before and after the intervention were compared.

RESULTS

The educational intervention improved asthma control dramatically including daytime asthma symptoms, night awakenings, and frequency of use of short-acting beta2- adrenergic receptor agonists. Furthermore, the number of emergency department visits and hospitalizations fell considerably after the intervention ( < 0.001 for all). Asthma education was also linked to better inhalation technique and lung function ( < 0.001). Furthermore, all quality-of-life measures increased ( < 0.001 for all).

CONCLUSIONS

Implementing an asthma education program that included both children with asthma and their parents improved asthma control levels, lung function measures, and overall quality of life. Furthermore, it increased asthma awareness, decreased the use of health-care resources, and reduced asthma severity, resulting in better asthma management.