Role of "Asthma School" in Disease Management

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting 300 million people worldwide, especially children. In Italy, asthma affects 3 million patients and represents one of the main expenses of the Italian National Heath Care Service. According to the definition provided by the GINA guidelines, asthma is characterized by a variable and reversible limitation of expiratory airflow and by the following symptoms: wheezing, dyspnoea, thoracic constriction and/or cough. The type and the severity of airflow limitation can vary over time (1) depending on external agents, such as physical exercise, polluting agents, climate changes and viral infections. The therapy is mainly based on the use of inhaled corticosteroids and bronchodilators. Patients affected by severe asthma (~ 10% of total prevalence of asthma and at high risk of exacerbations and/or hospitalization) may not control their symptoms, even if exposed to maximal doses of inhalation therapy. More than one third of severe asthma patients receive oral corticosteroids prescriptions, with the risk of severe and irreversible adverse events. Therapy adherence is generally poor when therapeutic regimes are prescribed for chronic diseases, including asthma (4). The behavioural sciences can potentially help to find the psychological factors behind scarce adherence and to develop strategies with the aim of improving the interactive processes between patients, medical doctors and health care professionals (4). Several studies have described intervention models focused on education of the patients to symptoms and exacerbations recognition, therapy management, reduction of the exposure to trigger agents and improvement of social and physical activities (5-6). The intervention is not able to make patients independent in disease managing, but can improve the cooperation in asthma management. Another important aspect in asthma management is the quality of the therapeutic intervention: the correct delivery of inhalation therapy is the key for the disease control (3). Specific educational intervention such as "asthma school" can improve symptoms control and reduce; however, up to day, a universal and standardized protocol is not available and further studies are needed.