title: An economic evaluation of asthma action plans for children with asthma.
abstract: The costs and effectiveness of asthma action plans for children were evaluated in a cross-sectional economic analysis. Direct health care and indirect costs, nights with symptoms, and asthma attacks were measured in 879 Ontario children with asthma. From a societal perspective, the total annual costs of the asthma action plan and the control groups were CDN$6,948 and CDN$6,140 per patient, respectively. Health outcomes were similar. The difference in cost was attributable to greater medication and health services use in the intervention group. Prospective randomized trials are necessary to measure potential improvements in control of asthma using asthma action plans.
authors: Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
authors: Julie
authors: J
authors: Polisena
authors: Susanna
authors: S
authors: Tam
authors: Abhay
authors: A
authors: Lodha
authors: Audrey
authors: A
authors: Laporte
authors: Peter C
authors: PC
authors: Coyte
authors: Wendy J
authors: WJ
authors: Ungar
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017059:Models, Econometric; D009864:Ontario; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000191:economics*