Cargando…

Planned primary health care asthma contacts during 12-year follow-up after Finnish National Asthma Programme: focus on spirometry

Primary health care (PHC) providers are at the front line of asthma management. To evaluate how planned asthma follow-up occurred in PHC and whether lung function tests were used, 203 patients were followed for 12 years as part of a real-life asthma cohort Seinäjoki Adult Asthma Study (SAAS). A tota...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Takala, Jaana, Ilmarinen, Pinja, Tuomisto, Leena E., Vähätalo, Iida, Niemelä, Onni, Kankaanranta, Hannu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7083866/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32198357
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41533-020-0166-2
Descripción
Sumario:Primary health care (PHC) providers are at the front line of asthma management. To evaluate how planned asthma follow-up occurred in PHC and whether lung function tests were used, 203 patients were followed for 12 years as part of a real-life asthma cohort Seinäjoki Adult Asthma Study (SAAS). A total of 152 patients had visits in PHC attending on average to four planned contacts during 12-year follow-up corresponding to one visit every third year. National guideline recommends annual visits. Patients with ≥4 contacts seemed to have more difficult asthma and better adherence to inhaled corticosteroid medication. Lung function tests were performed on average in 87.5% of annual planned follow-up contacts. Spirometry was performed in 70%, 71% and 97% of all contacts depending on whether it was a contact to GP, nurse or both. Overall, the frequency of follow-up contacts was insufficient but PHC adherence to lung function testing was excellent.