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Does a Written Asthma Action Plan Reduce Unscheduled Doctor Visits in Children?

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a written asthma action plan (WAAP) on reducing unscheduled doctor visits, asthma control and quality of life in children with all severities of asthma. This was a randomised controlled, single-blinded study whereby 80 children with asthma were randomly assigned to be either provided a WAAP or verbally counseled . The number of asthmatic exacerbations requiring unscheduled doctor visits, asthma control and quality of life were monitored over 9 mo. At the end of the study, there was no significant difference in the number of unscheduled doctor visits between the 2 groups (p = 0.352). There was no significant difference in asthma control or quality of life between both groups. Hence, the WAAP did not reduce unscheduled doctor visits, nor improve asthma control or quality of life in children with all severities of asthma.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the nurses in the pediatric asthma clinic, UMMC, Malaysia who helped them during this study especially Staff Nurse Mazni bte Alias.

Conflict of Interest and Role of Funding Source

In this study, printing of the written asthma action plans was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Malaysia. However GSK was not involved in designing the action plan, or the protocol of this study, or in collecting the data, or analyzing or interpretation of the results, or writing the report and not involved in the decision to submit this article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Su Sien Wong, Anna Marie Nathan, Jessie de Bruyne & Siti Zurinah Mohd Tahir

  2. Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Julius Centre University of Malaya, University Malaya Medical Centre, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Rafdzah Zaki

  3. University Malaya Pediatrics and Child Health Research Group, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Anna Marie Nathan & Jessie de Bruyne

Authors
  1. Su Sien Wong
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  2. Anna Marie Nathan
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  3. Jessie de Bruyne
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  4. Rafdzah Zaki
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  5. Siti Zurinah Mohd Tahir
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Marie Nathan.

Appendix 1 Written Asthma Action Plan

Appendix 1 Written Asthma Action Plan

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Wong, S.S., Nathan, A.M., de Bruyne, J. et al. Does a Written Asthma Action Plan Reduce Unscheduled Doctor Visits in Children?. Indian J Pediatr 80, 590–595 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-012-0839-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-012-0839-0

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