NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among asthmatic children and their caretakers who have sought emergency care because of a flare-up, education can lower the risk of future emergency visits and hospitalizations, a research review suggests.
"Asthma management for children results in substantial costs," Dr. Michelle Boyd, of Royal Children's Hospital, Herston, Australia, and colleagues write in the current issue of The Cochrane Library. "There is evidence to suggest that hospital admissions could be reduced with effective education for parents and children about asthma and its management."
To further investigate, the researchers conducted a systematic review of clinical trials of asthma education for children who had attended the emergency department for asthma, with or without hospitalization, within the previous 12 months.
Educational interventions included teaching patients how to monitor their breathing flow; showing patients the importance of early response to symptoms before they escalate into an asthma emergency; and teaching the caretakers the importance of making environmental changes in the home, such as removing asthma triggers.
A total of 38 studies involving 7843 children were included in the analysis.
A 27 percent reduction in risk of subsequent emergency department visits and 21 percent reduced risk of hospitalizations were observed in the educational intervention groups compared with the control groups. Educational interventions also lowered the risk of unscheduled doctor visits.
Withdrawal rates from educational propgrams did not differ significantly between the intervention groups and comparison "control" groups, "indicating that education following an acute exacerbation of asthma is no more or less acceptable for children and their carers compared with usual follow-up."
The authors suggest that education may be especially useful for young asthma patients with a history of emergency department visits; these patients may have more severe disease and may not have the skills to effectively manage it.
SOURCE: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009.
