[Effectiveness of the Assessment of Burden of COPD tool: a cluster-randomised controlled trial].
Assessment of the effectiveness of the Assessment of Burden of COPD (ABC) tool on disease-specific quality of life in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).



Cluster-randomised controlled trial.



This concerned a trial in 39 Dutch primary care practices and 17 hospitals, involving 357 patients with COPD (postbronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio < 0.7) aged ≥ 40 years. Healthcare providers were randomized to an intervention or control group. Patients in the intervention group were treated with the ABC tool. This innovative tool consists of a short validated questionnaire and a number of objective parameters, which collectively give a visual overview of the combined integral health; the tool subsequently produces an individualized treatment plan by means of a treatment algorithm. Patients in the control group received usual care. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients with a clinically relevant improvement in disease-specific quality of life measured, as measured by means of the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score, between baseline and 18 months follow-up. Secondary outcomes included the SGRQ total score and the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) score.



At 18-month follow-up, a significant and clinically relevant improvement in the SGRQ score was seen in 34% of the patients (N=49) in the intervention group, and in the control group this figure was 22% (N=33). This difference between the two groups was significant (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.08 to 3.16). Patients in the intervention group experienced a higher quality of care than patients in the control group (0.32 points difference in PACIC, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.50).



Use of the ABC tool increases the disease-specific quality of life and the quality of care for COPD patients; it may therefore offer a valuable contribution to improvements in the daily care of COPD. Replication of this study in other (non-Dutch) health-care settings is recommended.
* Dit onderzoek werd eerder gepubliceerd in BMJ Open (2016;6:e011519) met als titel 'Effectiveness of the Assessment of Burden of COPD (ABC) tool on health-related quality of life in patients with COPD: a cluster randomised controlled trial in primary and hospital care'. Afgedrukt met toestemming.
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D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000628:therapy*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires