Do self-management plans reduce morbidity in patients with asthma?

Citation

Hoskins G, Neville RG, Smith B & Clark RA (1996) Do self-management plans reduce morbidity in patients with asthma?. British Journal of General Practice, 46 (404), pp. 169-171. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1239578/

Abstract
AbstractBACKGROUND: Self-management plans may help patients with asthma intervene when symptoms deteriorate, thus preventing asthma attacks. AIM: A study set out to test whether a self-management plan tailored to the circumstances of the individual reduces morbidity from asthma. METHOD: General practitioners who had participated in a national audit of asthma attacks were randomized into intervention and control groups. Six months after the intervention group had issued self-management plans to patients with asthma, both groups of practitioners completed morbidity questionnaires on patients. Morbidity outcomes were compared for the 6-month periods before and after the issue of the plans. RESULTS: In the 6 months before the study, the 376 patients enrolled by the intervention group experienced higher levels of morbidity than the 530 patients for whom details were recorded by the control group. In the 6 months after the issue of the plans, control group patients showed little change in levels of morbidity, but intervention group patients showed significant reductions in hospital admissions, consultations for asthma symptoms, asthma review consultations, courses of oral steroids and use of emergency nebulized bronchodilators. CONCLUSION: General practitioners appeared to operate enthusiast bias' and issued more self-management plans to patients with uncontrolled asthma. The reduction in morbidity in this group is probably a result of the use of the plans, but the verdict on whether plans reduce morbidity must be deemed 'not proven'.

Keywords
asthma; morbidity; self care; management of disease

Journal
British Journal of General Practice: Volume 46, Issue 404