Evaluation of the impact of a pharmaceutical care program in children with asthma

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a pharmaceutical care program on children with asthma. A comprehensive asthma education and monitoring program that includes basic asthma knowledge, symptoms and exacerbation evaluation, pharmacotherapy assessment including inhaler technique, and quality of life measurements was developed and applied in an outpatient paediatric clinic of the Catholic University of Chile. All patients with moderate asthma scheduled for outpatient visits with their internist over a 1-year period were referred for pharmacist intervention. Patients (aged 7-17) with moderate asthma attending the clinic were allocated to the intervention (group A) or control group (group B). Intervention patients were educated on their disease, pharmacotherapy, self-management, and inhalation techniques. The group B were children with their regular treatment for asthma but without pharmaceutical intervention. A paediatric asthma quality of life questionnaire (PAQLQ) was applied to both groups at 0, 2, and 9 weeks to assess the quality of life. Spirometry was done at the beginning and at the completion of the 9-week study. Beta-agonists used by each patient were also recorded. Eleven children (10.0±0.7 years) were included in the pharmaceutical care program, and ten children (9.9±0.6 years) in group B. For the individual domains of activities (A), emotions (E), and symptoms (S) there was a significant improvement in the children who received pharmaceutical care in comparison with those who did not receive it. The scores of group B did not change during the 9 weeks of follow-up. There were no significant changes in spirometric values in either group. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.