Raju M, Sagar M, Bush A, Quaye E, Ghamande S, Malhotra S, Arroliga ME. The role of supervised
school therapy in poorly controlled asthma in children.
Proc AMIA Symp 2023;
36:448-452. [PMID:
37334099 PMCID:
PMC10269411 DOI:
10.1080/08998280.2023.2204522]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Revised: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
In children, nonadherence to inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy leads to poor asthma control and complications.
Methods
We evaluated the benefit from initiation of ICS administration once daily at school. We retrospectively chose patients from our pediatric pulmonary clinic who had poorly controlled asthma and prescribed ICS daily. For the study period, we examined the number of corticosteroid courses, emergency room visits, hospital admissions, symptom history, and pulmonary function tests.
Results
Thirty-four patients who satisfied the inclusion criteria began the intervention. Preintervention, there were a mean number of 2.6 oral corticosteroid courses compared to 2 courses in the year following intervention (P = 0.8). Postintervention emergency department visits decreased from a mean of 1.4 to 1.0 (P = 0.71), and hospital admissions decreased from 1.23 to 0.57 (P = 0.04). There was also a significant increase in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (1.69 vs 1.4 L/sec, P = 0.02), a decrease in systemic steroid-free days in a year (96 vs 141 days, P = 0.03), and an increase in symptom-free days postintervention (28 vs 26 days, P = 0.325).
Conclusion
These findings suggest that ICS administration in schools may help reduce hospital admissions and improve lung function in patients with poorly controlled asthma.
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