School-based, self-managed asthma interventions appear to reduce hospital admissions, the number of days children experience asthma symptoms, emergency department (ED) visits, and are likely lead to small improvements in asthma-related quality of life, according to a study published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
This systematic review was primarily designed to assess the effectiveness of school-based asthma interventions to improve asthma self-management for children. Investigators conducted a meta-analysis of current research evaluating the effectiveness of such interventions.
A wide variety of databases were searched to find studies, with the latest search conducted on August 28, 2017. Eligible participants were children receiving school-based asthma interventions with the purpose of helping children improve self-management of asthma by changing behavior, enhancing skills, or increasing knowledge. The effects of interventions were measured by combining data for the following primary outcomes: days of restricted activity due to asthma symptoms, ED visits, hospital admission, and absence from school. Asthma-related quality of life was measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) as a secondary outcome. Most of the included studies were conducted in socially disadvantaged North American populations.
