CLINICAL EFFECTS OF A LONG-TERM EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH ASTHMA – AIRONET ® (LEPCA-A). A ONE-YEAR RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Educational self-management programs for children with asthma have now become a routine feature in the management of the disease, as international guidelines underline. We designed this trial to find out whether Aironet®, an educational program developed for children with asthma, influenced asthma severity and improved parents’ knowledge of the disease. In a multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled trial we enrolled 123 children, 72 boys, mean age 8.78 yr (±2.33 s.d.), with intermittent or mild persistent asthma. Participants were randomly assigned to an education group, who received Aironet® at baseline and 2 months later (60 children), or to a control group who did not (63 children). Follow-up lasted 12 months and included out-patient clinic visits and spirometry at 2, 4 and 12 months. At baseline and at 12 months follow-up, parents were questioned about their knowledge of asthma, and their children’s asthmatic attacks, use of systemic corticosteroids, family physician or hospital emergency room visits, hospitalizations and asthma-related school absences. Questionnaire replies at 12-month follow-up reported significantly fewer asthma attacks in patients who received the program than in those who did not (1.65 ± 1.21 vs. 2.34 ± 1.73; p < 0.05). For the subgroup of children who had ?3 asthma attacks at baseline, parents’ knowledge improved significantly more in the educational group than in the control group. The out-patient educational program Aironet® reduces the number of asthma attacks in children with intermittent or mild persistent asthma and improves knowledge of the disease.