Case management and quality assurance to improve care of inner-city children with asthma

Case management and quality assurance techniques were used in a program designed to improve the process and outcomes of care for inner-city children with asthma. The program had three major elements: assessment of the care of individual patients and feedback to their primary care providers, periodic contact with parents, and provision of educational materials about asthma to parents. Telephone interviews with parents were used to assess knowledge of home asthma care and the type of care prescribed by the child's physician. Medicaid and hospital records were used to measure acute care utilization. Eighty-eight children (aged 0 to 5 years) who had made more than two emergency room visits for asthma were recruited by telephone. Fifty-six prescribing errors were identified, 24 being failure to prescribe an additional drug for short-term use by children receiving continuous therapy. Acute care use dropped 50% compared with a control period. This type of program is feasible but may require in-person recruiting to reach high-risk families without telephones.     

Cognitive-behavioral predictors of asthma morbidity in inner-city children

Asthma is a growing health problem among children in the United States, particularly in urban, inner-city areas. This article examines the relationship between cognitive-behavioral aspects of asthma management (caretaker asthma knowledge, expectations, and problem-solving) and asthma morbidity in a sample of 1,376 inner-city children with physician-diagnosed asthma. In the analyses, baseline symptom severity served as a covariate, and the average of the 3-, 6-, and 9-month follow-up data served as the outcome measure. Children of caregivers with ineffective problem-solving strategies had significantly more days of wheezing over a 14-day period. Ineffective problem-solving capabilities were also associated with poorer functional status; however, positive caregiver expectations were associated with better functional status. Of the cognitive-behavioral factors studied in a high-risk urban population, caregiver problem-solving skills and expectations emerged as meriting further investigation and possible intervention.     

Factors associated with severe asthma

OBJECTIVE:To study the role of various factors associated with development and severity of bronchial asthma in children between 5-15 years of age. SETTING: Tertiary Care Medical College Hospital. METHODS: A case control study was carried out during May 96 to April 98. Sixty children each suffering from mild (chronic) and severe asthma (chronic) and 60 controls were enrolled to study the association of various risk factors with development of asthma and for severe disease. RESULTS: On univariate analysis factors associated with significant risk for development of asthma included family history of asthma (p = 0.003), lack of exclusive breastfeeding (p = 0.05), past history of bronchiolitis (p = 0.02), associated allergic rhinitis (p = 0.04) and atopic dermatitis (p = 0.01). For development of severe asthma, associated factors were early onset of symptoms (p = 0.01), family history of asthma in grandparents (p = 0.04) and more than 10 cigarettes per day smoked by any family member. No significant effect of air pollution, overcrowding, pets and passive smoking were found on either development of asthma or it's severity. On multivariate analysis only age of onset below 48 months was associated with severe asthma (OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.00-4.54). Exclusive breastfeeding for more than 4 months was the most protective factor for development of asthma (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.08-0.70). A strong association between development of asthma and past history of bronchiolitis or tuberculosis (OR 5.26, 95% CI 1.7-16.20) and presence of associated atopic dermatitis or rhinitis (OR 7.5, 95% CI 1.64-34.48) was observed. CONCLUSION: History of associated allergic diseases and past history of bronchiolitis were significantly associated with development of asthma. Exclusive breastfeeding for first 4 months of life was protective. The most significant factor associated with severe asthma was onset of illness before 48 months of age. There was no significant effect of air pollution, over crowding, pets at home or passive smoking on severity of asthma     

Low parental literacy is associated with worse asthma care measures in children.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether parental literacy is related to emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and days of school missed for children with asthma. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study at a university pediatric clinic. We enrolled children between 3 and 12 years old with a diagnosis of asthma and a regular source of care at the site of the study and their parent or guardian. Primary asthma care measures included self-reported rates of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and days of school missed. Secondary asthma care measures included rescue and controller medication use, classification of asthma severity, and parental asthma-related knowledge. RESULTS: We enrolled 150 children and their parents. Twenty-four percent of the parents had low literacy. Children of parents with low literacy had greater incidence of emergency department visits (adjusted incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.4; 95% confidence interval 0.97, 2.0), hospitalizations (IRR 4.6; 1.8, 12), and days missed from school (IRR 2.8; 2.3, 3.4) even after adjusting for asthma-related knowledge, disease severity, medication use, and other sociodemographic factors. Parents with low literacy had less asthma-related knowledge, and their children were more likely to have moderate or severe persistent asthma and had greater use of rescue medications. CONCLUSIONS: Low parental literacy is associated with worse care measures for children with asthma.     

A practitioner-based asthma intervention program with African American inner-city school children.

INTRODUCTION: Asthma is the most prevalent chronic illness, affecting more than 7 million children younger than 17 years. Asthma has become a leading public health concern because of the dramatic rise in the incidence of this disease during the past 15 years, particularly in minority populations. This study tested a two-part intervention on selected psychosocial and health outcomes of 8- to 13-year-old inner city minority students with asthma. METHOD: The intervention consisted of participation in an asthma education program (Open Airways) followed by 5 monthly visits with a nurse practitioner. The total sample of 52 children was composed of 28 children in the treatment group who received the intervention and 24 children who served as a control group. RESULTS: Students in the treatment group scored significantly higher than the control group over time on measures of asthma knowledge, asthma self-efficacy, general self-care practices, and asthma self-care practices. No significant differences were found between the two groups on health outcomes. DISCUSSION: A school-based intervention program can improve psychosocial outcomes for inner-city minority children with asthma. Recommendations for future research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Maternal depressive symptoms and emergency department use among inner-city children with asthma

CONTEXT: Inner-city minority children with asthma use emergency departments (ED) frequently. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether maternal depressive symptoms are associated with ED use. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Baseline and 6-month surveys were administered to mothers of children with asthma in inner-city Baltimore, Md, and Washington, DC. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Use of the ED at 6-month follow-up was examined. Independent variables included asthma morbidity, age, depressive symptoms, and other psychosocial data. RESULTS: Among mothers, nearly half reported significant levels of depressive symptoms. There were no demographic or asthma-related differences between the children of mothers with high and low depressive symptoms. However, in bivariate analyses, mothers with high depressive symptoms were 40% (prevalence ratio [PR], 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-3.6; P =.04) more likely to report taking their child to the ED. Mothers aged 30 to 35 years were more than twice as likely (PR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.9-9.3; P =.001) to report ED use, as were children with high morbidity (PR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.4-7.1; P =.006). Child age and family income were not predictive of ED use. After controlling for asthma symptoms and mother's age, mothers with depressive symptoms were still 30% more likely to report ED use. CONCLUSIONS: Depression is common among inner-city mothers of children with asthma. Beyond asthma morbidity, maternal age and depressive symptoms are strong predictors of reports of ED visits. Identifying and addressing poor psychological adjustment in mothers may reduce unnecessary ED visits and optimize asthma management among inner-city children.     

Primary preventive health care in children with heart disease

Summary In order to evaluate the preventive health care practices in children with heart disease, 499 families were surveyed in outpatient settings. Data were collected on 215 children with heart disease and 284 control children without known chronic illness. There was no significant difference between the groups in the type of primary physician utilized or frequency of visits to the primary care physician. Immunizations were incomplete in 32.7% of the children with heart disease compared to only 2.5% in the control group (P<0.0001). Among the children over 3 years of age with heart disease, 29% had not received routine dental care within the past year compared with 23.4% in the controls (P=NS). The parents of children with heart disease were found to pay less money out-of-pocket for their child's health care than the parents of control children (P<0.0001). The data suggest that important aspects of primary health care were neglected in a large group of children with heart disease and that cost was not a major cause for the inadequate preventive care delivery. An educational program directed at health care professionals and parents is proposed.     

Computer game for inner-city children does not improve asthma outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this randomized control trial was to evaluate the effects of a computer-assisted instructional (CAI) game on asthma symptoms (eg, coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and nighttime awakenings) in 7- to 12-year-old inner-city children over 12 weeks. METHOD: A CAI that focused on reducing environmental irritants/allergens and the correct use of prescribed medications to prevent asthma symptoms was used with 101 children (56 in the intervention group and 45 in the control group). The primary outcome evaluated a change in children's asthma symptoms as measured by responses to nine symptom questions in Juniper's Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQOL) and measurements of lung function. RESULTS: No significant changes in asthma symptoms occurred between the two groups before and after the intervention. No significant changes were noted in PAQOL scores for activities, emotions, and total PAQOL score, lung function measurements, and asthma severity between the two groups. Asthma knowledge of both groups was high before intervention, but there were no significant changes between groups after the intervention. DISCUSSION: Findings indicate that this CAI game was not effective in improving asthma symptoms in this group of children.