NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – New research suggests that adherence with daily controller medications among children with asthma can be enhanced with school-based supervised asthma therapy.

As reported in the February issue of Pediatrics, Dr. Lynn B. Gerald and colleagues, from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, assessed asthma control in 290 children from 36 schools who were randomized to receive school-based, supervised therapy or usual care.

Eligibility criteria included physician-diagnosed persistent asthma, need for a daily controlled medication, and ability to use a dry-powder inhaled and peak flowmeter.

Poor asthma control was defined as at least one of the following: 1) absence from school due to asthma/respiratory illness, 2) average use of rescue medication more than 2 times per week, or 3) at least 1 red or yellow peak flowmeter reading.

No change in asthma control was seen for the control group during the 15-month follow-up period. For the intervention group, however, the odds of poor asthma control were 57% higher during the baseline period than during that follow-up period.

“Once-daily supervised asthma therapy is a simple intervention that improves asthma control,” Dr. Gerald and colleagues conclude. “Clinicians who have pediatric patients with asthma with poor outcomes that are possibly attributable to medication nonadherence should consider coordinating supervised therapy with the parent and the child’s school.”

Reference:
Pediatrics 2009;123:466-474.