For the past 4 years, Alexandra Dima and Marijn de Bruin from ASCoR have partnered with 6 European organizations in the ASTRO-LAB project, a European Commission-funded longitudinal cohort study investigating the long-term impact of asthma treatment and self-management on health outcomes in France and the United Kingdom. On the 14th of April, the ASTRO-LAB final symposium took place in Lyon, France.
In this symposium, Alex and Marijn presented the results of their work package, which focused on how patients self-manage their asthma, what factors influence self-management, how health care providers communicate with patients to support self-management, and how patient self-management impacts on asthma treatment success. Over 1,000 patients provided over 4000 telephone interviews, 8500 text messages, and 1000 online questionnaires at multiple time points. Over 250 health care professionals completed online surveys. The unique dataset allowed for studying these topics in well-powered, complex longitudinal models.
Results showed that intermittent use (non-adherence) of medication in asthma is very common and impacts on health outcomes. Patients with more positive adherence-related beliefs and emotions, and a higher adherence self-efficacy, had higher medication adherence. The quality of care to support patient self-management varied considerably between health care providers, and was mainly driven by their level of training in communication skills, self-efficacy, and social norms. The symposium ended with a panel discussion on opportunities to improve primary care in asthma in both countries with the active participation of stakeholder representatives.
Published on: 09-05-2016