A meta-analysis of the effects of community-based treatments for asthma in children

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to appraise and compare the influence of community‑based interventions (C-BIs) for childhood asthma. METHODS: We examined meta-analysis data and employed dichotomous or continuous random or fixed-effect models to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). This review examined 13 papers that included a total of 8824 people with asthma. RESULTS: Children with C-BI had significantly lower asthma-connected emergency department visits (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.22-0.39, p < 0.001), hospitalizations (OR, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.15-0.40, p < 0.001), duration of asthma symptoms (MD, -2.56; 95% CI, -2.84- -2.28, p < 0.001), nighttime asthma symptoms (MD, -2.14; 95% CI, -2.94- -1.34, p < 0.001), and use of bronchodilator (OR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.16-0.51, p < 0.001), and higher use of asthma action plan (OR, 8.87; 95% CI, 3.85-20.45, p < 0.001) compared to children without C-BI in asthma. CONCLUSIONS: Children with C-BI had significantly lower asthma-related emergency department visits, hospitalization duration of asthma symptoms, night-time asthma symptoms, and use of bronchodilators, and a higher use of asthma action plans compared to children without C-BI in asthma. Nevertheless, due to the limited number of studies involved in the comparisons, their values warrant careful consideration.