Treatment compliance, passive smoking, and XXXX control: a three year cohort study.

@entity1 @entity565
AIMS: To study the role of treatment compliance and parents' smoking on @entity565 control in @entity1 with recently diagnosed mild or moderate persistent @entity565 who were prescribed inhaled anti-inflammatory treatment. METHODS: Prospective cohort study of 167 @entity1 aged 6-12 years (64% @entity1 ). @entity1 were examined at inclusion and followed up for three years with a visit every four months. Peak expiratory flow (PEF) was measured twice a day during the week before each visit. Two control criteria were monitored: (1) symptom control = having diurnal or nocturnal exacerbations less than once a week and no symptoms between exacerbations, at all visits; and (2) PEF control = daily PEF variability <20% on each of the seven days before each visit. RESULTS: Symptom control was achieved by 25.1% of @entity1 and PEF control by 53.3%. Symptom control was positively related to having understood the way in which the medication worked and taking the prescribed doses (odds ratios (OR) = 3.38 and 4.82 respectively). It was inversely related to smoking within the home (OR = 0.34). PEF control was positively related to taking the prescribed doses (OR = 3.58). It was less frequently achieved if the mother smoked within the home (OR = 0.34). CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that, to maximise the benefits of available @entity565 medication and to improve health outcomes, further efforts should be made to convince the parents of asthmatic @entity1 not to smoke in the house, and to improve compliance by increasing the @entity1 ' understanding of the disease and its treatment.
