Preventing and lessening exacerbations of asthma in school-age children associated with a new term (PLEASANT): study protocol for a cluster randomised control trial

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dc.contributor.authorHorspool, Michelle J.
dc.contributor.authorJulious, Steven A.
dc.contributor.authorBoote, Jonathan
dc.contributor.authorBradburn, Mike J.
dc.contributor.authorCooper, Cindy L.
dc.contributor.authorDavis, Sarah
dc.contributor.authorElphick, Heather
dc.contributor.authorNorman, Paul
dc.contributor.authorSmithson, W. Henry
dc.contributor.authorvanStaa, Tjeerd
dc.contributor.funderNational Institute for Health Researchen
dc.date.accessioned2018-10-08T08:51:08Z
dc.date.available2018-10-08T08:51:08Z
dc.date.issued2013-09-04
dc.date.updated2018-10-08T08:43:34Z
dc.description.abstractBackground: Within the UK, during September, there is a pronounced increase in the number of unscheduled medical contacts by school-aged children (4–16 years) with asthma. It is thought that that this might be caused by the return back to school after the summer holidays, suddenly mixing with other children again and picking up viruses which could affect their asthma. There is also a drop in the number of prescriptions administered in August. It is possible therefore that children might not be taking their medication as they should during the summer contributing to them becoming ill when they return to school. It is hoped that a simple intervention from the GP to parents of children with asthma at the start of the summer holiday period, highlighting the importance of maintaining asthma medication can help prevent increased asthma exacerbation, and unscheduled NHS appointments, following return to school in September. Methods/design: PLEASANT is a cluster randomised trial. A total of 140 General Practices (GPs) will be recruited into the trial; 70 GPs randomised to the intervention and 70 control practices of “usual care”. An average practice is expected to have approximately 100 children (aged 4–16 with a diagnosis of asthma) hence observational data will be collected on around 14000 children over a 24-month period. The Clinical Practice Research Datalink will collect all data required for the study which includes diagnostic, prescription and referral data. Discussion: The trial will assess whether the intervention can reduce exacerbation of asthma and unscheduled medical contacts in school-aged children associated with the return to school after the summer holidays. It has the potential to benefit the health and quality of life of children with asthma while also improving the effectiveness of NHS services by reducing NHS use in one of the busiest months of the year. An exploratory health economic analysis will gauge any cost saving associated with the intervention and subsequent impacts on quality of life. If results for the intervention are positive it is hoped that this could be adopted as part of routine care management of childhood asthma in general practice.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Institute for Health Research (Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid297
dc.identifier.citationHorspool, M. J., Julious, S. A., Boote, J., Bradburn, M. J., Cooper, C. L., Davis, S., Elphick, H., Norman, P., Smithson, W. H. and vanStaa, T. (2013) 'Preventing and lessening exacerbations of asthma in school-age children associated with a new term (PLEASANT): study protocol for a cluster randomised control trial', Trials, 14, 297 (9pp). doi:10.1186/1745-6215-14-297en
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/1745-6215-14-297
dc.identifier.issn1745-6215
dc.identifier.journaltitleTrialsen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/6987
dc.identifier.volume14en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltd.en
dc.rights© 2013, Horspool et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
dc.subjectAsthmaen
dc.subjectChildhood asthmaen
dc.subjectAsthma exacerbationen
dc.subjectCluster randomised controlled trialen
dc.subjectPrimary careen
dc.subjectPublic health interventionen
dc.subjectUnscheduled medical appointmentsen
dc.titlePreventing and lessening exacerbations of asthma in school-age children associated with a new term (PLEASANT): study protocol for a cluster randomised control trialen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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