Hospital admissions among young people with asthma may be reduced by working with students

Hospital admissions among young people due to asthma may be reduced by working with students to better manage the respiratory condition in schools, according to research being carried out by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) North Thames.

Researchers led by Professor Jonathan Grigg, Deputy Director of the CLAHRC, have developed an online assessment tool to measure the impact asthma has on schoolchildren and their engagement with school life.

The online tool was developed with young people with asthma, clinicians and a youth group from the Centre of the Cell science education centre (based at Queen Mary University of London). The tool requires students with asthma to answer questions relating to demographics, medication use, and complete an Asthma Control Test.

The study team surveyed secondary school students with asthma in London and fed back some of the anonymised data to students using focus groups. During the focus groups, the team asked for opinions on why medication use may be low and ways they could possibly be improved. This was coupled with a Cochrane systematic review to inform the development of a school-based intervention for children with asthma.

The researchers expect their findings will benefit patients by reducing the number of children with asthma who have poor control and improving their school attendance and engagement. The team anticipate their findings will also help underpin guidance from the Department of Education designed to help pupils with long-term medical conditions and the staff who support them.

Asthma affects one in 11 children and young people; and two to three children in every classroom in the UK. US data shows that asthma impacts school attendance and that high levels of absence result in poor attainment.

The NIHR CLAHRC North Thames will be at stand 29 at the UCLH Research Open Day on 28 June 2016 where visitors can have a go at testing how strong their lungs are with a peak flow meter; and play an asthma board game to improve knowledge about types of triggers and inhalers.