Asthma affects 1 in 10 children in the United States. When asthma isn’t managed well, children may need treatment in an emergency room, or ER. Doctors in the ER can use guidelines based on research to decide how to prepare families to manage asthma after they go home.
This study compared three ways to prepare children and caregivers to manage asthma after they leave the ER:
The three ways of preparing families to manage asthma at home didn’t make a difference in how families said asthma affected their lives, such as whether children had trouble breathing or if caregivers could work. However, compared with children who received enhanced usual care, children who received guideline-based care in the ER—with or without home visits—were more likely to
Children who received at-home visits were more likely to fill prescriptions and go to the office visit than children who received guideline-based care in the ER only or enhanced usual care.
The study included 373 children ages 5 to 11 who received care at six hospitals in Chicago. Of these children, 64 percent were black, and 31 percent were Hispanic or Latino. The average age was 7, and 67 percent were boys. Eighty percent had public insurance.
The research team assigned children, by chance, to receive one of three types of care. During the ER visit and six months later, the team asked children and caregivers to fill out a survey about how asthma affected their lives. The team also looked at patients’ health and pharmacy records to find out how often
Doctors, community health workers, public health officials, people with asthma, and caregivers of children with asthma helped plan the study.
The research team enrolled fewer children in the study than planned. In addition, only 63 percent of children completed the six-month study. Results may have been different if more children had enrolled in or completed the study.
Future research could look at how guideline-based meetings and the use of community health workers affect children and caregiver’s lives with more people in different locations.
Hospital staff and doctors can consider the results when planning ways to help children and caregivers manage asthma at home after going to the ER.