WEDNESDAY, Dec. 5, 2018 (HealthDay News) — A three-month intervention, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) self-management support, results in fewer COPD-related acute care events at six months after discharge, according to a study published online Nov. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Hanan Aboumatar, M.D., M.P.H., from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a single-site randomized clinical trial involving 240 patients hospitalized because of COPD. Participants were randomly assigned to intervention or usual care and were followed for six months after discharge. The intervention was a three-month program to assist patients and family caregivers with long-term self-management of COPD and was delivered by COPD nurses.
The researchers found that per participant, the mean number of COPD-related acute care events was 0.72 and 1.4 in the intervention and usual care groups, respectively, at six months (difference, 0.68; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.22 to 1.15; P = 0.004). The mean change in participants’ St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire total score at six months was −1.53 and +5.44 in the intervention and usual care groups, respectively (adjusted difference, −6.69; 95 percent confidence interval, −12.97 to −0.4; P = 0.04).
“COPD is incurable and chronic, and our new program — which combines hospital to home transition support with chronic disease management support — is one way of reorganizing care in a way that reduces future hospitalization risk and expenses, while preserving patients’ quality of life,” Aboumatar said in a statement.
Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and health care industries.
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