Impact of Pharmaceutical Care on Quality of Life of Patients With Asthma In South India	PDF File
Emad Eldin  | A.S Manjula Devi | S.S. Shriram | B. Rajalingam | K. Ramkumar and T.K. Ravi Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, Sri Ramakrishna Hospital Campus, Coimbatore, India

Kewords : Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS), Item Banking, Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT), Item Response Theory (IRT)

ABSTRACT

Objectives: to study the impact of pharmaceutical care services on asthma related quality of life

Method: A parallel group, control versus intervention, repeated measures study was carried out for 8 months from May to December 2005 in a 400-bedded multispeciality tertiary care teaching hospital at Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nadu. 38 medically-diagnosed asthma patients were included, divided into an intervention and control group. Face to face interviews were conducted with all patients. Intervention group patients received pharmaceutical care services till the end of the study, whereas control patients were not.

Outcome measures: Asthma severity, number of night awakenings per month due to asthma, number of asthma attacks, specific asthma symptoms, average number of puffs of rescue medication per day, PEFR and asthma related quality of life scores.

Results: Intervention group showed an improvement in the mean AQLQ score from 4.342 ±0.860, 4.240 ‡0.713, 4.349 ±1.199, 4.349 ±1.199 and 4.775 ±0.742 at baseline to 6.0390 ±0.521, 5.772 ±0.591, 6.224 ±0.728, 6.224 ±0.728 and 6.162 ±0.527 at final visit corresponding to overall, activity, symptoms, emotional and environmental domains respectively. Asthma severity score reduced from 2.60 ±1.05 to 1.60 ±0.75. The mean number of asthma attacks per month has dropped from 4.40 ±5.15 at baseline to 1.75 ±2.34 at the final interview. The mean number of night awakenings due to asthma reduced from 2.85 ±1.27 to 1.45 ±0.76 post pharmacist services. The number of puffs of rescue medication reduced from 4.16 ±3.17 puffs/day to 3.35 ±2.54 puffs/day. The PEFR improved from 268.75 ±81.27 L/Min to 299.50 ±84.37 L/Min at final visit interview. The mean asthma symptoms scores improved from 2.45 ±1.05, 2.80 ±1.11, 2.95 ±0.83, 2.85 ±0.93 and 2.05 ±1.19 at baseline to 1.55 ±0.51, 1.65 ±0.67, 1.55 ±0.60, 1.80 ±0.52 and 1.45 ±0.60 at final visit indicating cough, wheezing, shortness of breath, asthma attacks and chest tightness respectively.

Conclusion: The study has demonstrated a positive impact in improving patients’ asthma-related quality of life, lung function and other outcome measured.