Background and objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of an intervention based on the Global INitiative for Asthma (GINA) recommendations as compared to usual care.
Subjects and method: Pragmatic, cluster-randomised trial. Ten pneumologists and 10 general practitioners were randomised to an intervention or control group, recruiting 98 and 100 asthma patients, respectively. The intervention consisted of an education program and a clinical decision support system (CDSS) providing recommendations based on the GINA. The control group was characterized by usual care. Effectiveness was assessed by the health related quality of life as measured by the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). Costs were computed from the resource consumption recorded during a 12 months follow-up period, and the cost-effectiveness of the intervention was investigated in an incremental analysis.
Results: The intervention effect on the SGRQ total score was estimated as a 6.8 point reduction (95% confidence interval, 2.5-11.1; p = 0.0021), and a significant improvement in the SGRQ subscores and in the symptoms-free periods were also observed. From the social perspective, the mean total costs showed savings of -1,022 Euros (95% confidence interval, -2,165 to 122; p = 0.0795) in intervention group as compared to usual care. The incremental analysis confirmed that the intervention was cost-effective.
Conclusions: The implementation of an asthma management program based in GINA recommendations improved the patient's health related quality of life and was cost-effective as compared to usual care.