Evidence map›Paper›PMID 8731624›Full record

Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners1996

Do self-management plans reduce morbidity in patients with asthma?

G Hoskins, R G Neville, B Smith, R A Clark

Abstract readClinical TrialComparative StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC
In one paragraph

Trial report in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 1996. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Personalised asthma action plans for adults with asthma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017
    Pooled it
  2. Options for self-management education for adults with asthma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2003
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Trial
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Organising primary health care for people with asthma: the patient's perspective.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2000
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

G HoskinsTayside Centre for General Practice, University of Dundee.
R G Neville
B Smith
R A Clark

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSelf-management plans may help patients with asthma intervene when symptoms deteriorate, thus preventing asthma attacks.

aimA study set out to test whether a self-management plan tailored to the circumstances of the individual reduces morbidity from asthma.

methodGeneral practitioners who had participated in a national audit of asthma attacks were randomized into intervention and control groups. Six months after the intervention group had issued self-management plans to patients with asthma, both groups of practitioners completed morbidity questionnaires on patients. Morbidity outcomes were compared for the 6-month periods before and after the issue of the plans.

resultsIn the 6 months before the study, the 376 patients enrolled by the intervention group experienced higher levels of morbidity than the 530 patients for whom details were recorded by the control group. In the 6 months after the issue of the plans, control group patients showed little change in levels of morbidity, but intervention group patients showed significant reductions in hospital admissions, consultations for asthma symptoms, asthma review consultations, courses of oral steroids and use of emergency nebulized bronchodilators.

conclusionGeneral practitioners appeared to operate enthusiast bias' and issued more self-management plans to patients with uncontrolled asthma. The reduction in morbidity in this group is probably a result of the use of the plans, but the verdict on whether plans reduce morbidity must be deemed 'not proven'.

Indexed as

AsthmaHumansSelf CareTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID8731624
PMCPMC1239578

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.