An individualized approach in the education of asthmatic children.

Asthma is the most prevalent chronic disorder of childhood. In a large number of cases, it can be well managed. In addition to accurate diagnosis, appropriate therapy and control of environmental factors, a good educational program is required, which has not yet received due attention. Prompted by the fact that a large number of asthmatic children and their parents lack sufficient knowledge about asthma, six years ago we launched an individual educational program for all asthmatic children over seven years of age and their parents. We monitored a group of 58 asthmatics, the first to have completed our individual educational program, during the year before and the year after they had received individual education. The prerequisites for inclusion in the study were that the child was over seven years of age, diagnosed with chronic asthma according to the GINA guidelines and had been monitored for one year prior to receiving individual education. We compared the number of asthma exacerbations, hospitalizations due to asthma, days with asthmatic symptoms, the mean value of the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1), and the mean dose of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) taken during the year before and the year after receiving individual education. Study results showed the number of asthma exacerbations (p < 0.0001), hospitalizations due to asthma (p = 0.0236) and days with asthmatic symptoms (p < 0.0001) to have significantly reduced, along with a significant increase in FEV 1 (p < 0.0001) and lower mean ICS dose (p < 0.0001) upon completion of individual educational program. It is concluded that the addition of individual education in the treatment of asthmatic children enables better control of the disease (lower number of hospitalizations and asthma exacerbations, increased FEV 1) with a lower mean ICS dose. The knowledge about asthma acquired by the children and their parents, self-management, compliance with the written asthma management plan, control of environmental factors, along with good cooperation of the patients and parents in the management of asthma certainly contributed to this favorable observation.