Impact of Home Visit by an Indoor Environmental Advisor on Asthma
Control Score in Children
Abstract
Introduction – Uncontrolled asthma is common in
children and is associated with a decline in lung function. Repeated
personalised assessments of the reasons for inadequate control should
including evaluations of the patients’ surroundings. This can be support
by Indoor Environmental Advisors (IEAs). This cohort study aimed to
assess the impact on asthma control of routine assessment of children’s
home by IEAs. Methods – Children aged 4 to 18 years who
had asthma severity grades of 3 to 5 according to Global Initiative for
Asthma guidelines were enrolled. Asthma control was evaluated using the
standardized Asthma Control Test (ACT) before and 3 months after the IEA
visit. Results – We enrolled 15 children with
moderate-to-severe asthma. Asthma control improved significantly after
the IEA visit (p=0.004). The percentage of children with uncontrolled
asthma decreased from 64.3% before IEA visit to 27.3% at 3 months, and
none of the patients had 2 exacerbations or more within the 3 months
after the visit. IEA identified environmental issues whose remediation
could likely contribute to improve asthma control. However, there are
still barriers to the implementation of IEA that would be beneficial to
remove. Conclusion – Our results support the inclusion
of IEA interventions as part of the standard care pathway for children
with asthma.