Background: To achieve the best health possible, asthma patients require targeted education to understand the disease and how it may affect them, and what they need to do to keep it controlled.
Aim: To measure the length of time needed in a structured educational training program to achieve well-controlled asthma status.
Methods: This 5-month clinical trial enrolled previously untreated adult asthma patients at the Asthma Center of the President Dutra Public Hospital/Federal University of Maranhao-Brazil. At the first visit, patients were stratified according to their pre-bronchodilator peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) measurements: Class I was defined as PEFR > 80% of the predicted value; Class II as PEFR 50-80% of predicted value, and Class III as PEFR < 50% of predicted value. At enrollment and each follow-up visit patients were assessed for asthma symptoms and health care utilization. In the educational program, sessions covered signs and symptoms of asthma exacerbation, triggering factors, environmental control, and asthma drug effects. The time required to achieve well-controlled status and the total time free of asthma symptoms were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier curves. The log-rank test was used to compare PEFR classes, with significance being measured as p-values < or = 0.05.
Results: A total of 121 patients met the eligibility criteria and underwent the 6-month follow-up. The first six-month Kaplan-Meier curve demonstrated that Class I patients had a significantly better probability of achieving well-controlled asthma than the other classes (log rang = 6.78, p = 0.03), The second 6-month Kaplan-Meier curve analyzed the total time free of asthma symptoms according to PEFR class (log rank = 11, 22 p = 0.003). The time required to reach a well-controlled status was 2 or 3 months, depending on the baseline level of airway obstruction: patients in PEFR classes I and II achieved good control earlier than patients in PEFR Class III. Education and targeted training remain a key element of doctor-patient interactions and success of asthma control efforts.