A pilot study of telephone based asthma management

Self management programs have been advocated for adults who have recently been admitted to hospital or have recently attended an emergency department because of asthma. A new telephone based approach has already been trialled for the management of a number of other chronic conditions. This study sought to determine the effect of a telephone based asthma management program for adults with asthma.

Adults with one or more previous admissions for asthma to either or both of two tertiary hospitals between 1 May 2001 and 30 November 2003 were invited to participate. All participants received one face-to-face session with an asthma educator. Participants were randomised to intervention (six telephone calls over 6 months) or control (usual care) groups. Measures of health care utilisation and morbidity were collected weekly for 12 months.

Seventy-one adults (54 females) with a mean age of 36.2 years were recruited to the study. Twenty hospital re-admissions were recorded for the control group and one for the intervention group at 12 months. Re-admission was significantly associated with allocation to control group (p=0.05). The control group was significantly more likely to report being woken by asthma on more than half the nights of the week (p=0.03).

Telephone based self management intervention results in clinically important reductions in hospital re-admission in adults previously hospitalised with asthma.