Pharmaceutical care services for asthma patients: A controlled intervention study

As asthma is associated with an enormous social, psychological, and economi c burden, various patient education programs have been developed to improve outcomes, including quality of life. The authors evaluated the effectivene ss of community pharmacy-based interventions on lung function, health-relat ed quality of life, and selfmanagement in asthma patients in a 12-month con trolled intervention study in 26 intervention and 22 control pharmacies. Ph armacies opted whether to take part as intervention or control pharmacies. According to this, patients (ages 18-65) with mild to severe asthma attendi ng the pharmacies were allocated to the intervention (n = 161) or control g roup (n = 81), respectively. Intervention patients were educated on their d isease, pharmacotherapy, and selfmanagement; inhalation technique was asses sed and, if necessary, corrected. Pharmaceutical care led to significantly improved inhalation technique. Asthma-specific quality of life and the ment al health summary score of the SF-36 improved significantly in the interven tion group. At 12 months, She intervention group showed significant improve ments with regard to evening peak flow, self-efficacy and knowledge.