Cochrane corner: Pulmonary rehabilitation for adults with asthma

Abstract

In 2016, asthma management was estimated to cost £1.1 billion in primary care services, disability claims and hospital services in the UK. 1 The NHS long-term plan encourages referrals to Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) services for patients with some chronic respiratory diseases due to evidence for its cost-effectiveness in reducing symptoms and hospital admissions. 2 This review 3 explored the use of PR in asthma management with the hypothesis that its combination of educational and exercise components could benefit asthma patients similar to other chronic respiratory diseases. 4,5

Do psychological interventions improve outcomes for asthma in children and young people?

“…The review did not include any study where diagnostic asthma tests were used in identifying asthma outcomes. 9 Overall, the results were mixed in almost all groups but no adverse treatment effects of the interventions were reported.…”

“…However, the evidence was deemed very uncertain for both due to differences in scales and unknown minimal clinically important differences (MCID). The review did not include any study where diagnostic asthma tests were used in identifying asthma outcomes 9 …”

Global trends in eczema prevalence during early life

“…This month's Cochrane Corner summarizes evidence for pulmonary rehabilitation for treating adults with asthma 8 . The authors found that this non‐drug approach to treating asthma improves quality of life and functional exercise capacity.…”