The self-management of asthma is rapidly spreading around the globe. In a study from Serbia, Milenkovic and coworkers compared the efficacy of a 1-year peak expiratory flow (PEF)-based self-management of asthma program against conventional treatment. In one of only a handful of studies, they also analyzed the long-term effectiveness of self-management. Eighty adult patients served as intervention subjects with 80 serving as the control group. After 1 year, significant improvement was noted in markers of asthma severity in the intervention group but not in the control group. After 6 years, asthma morbidity and emergency use of health services remained reduced in the self-management group.

VALUE OF STUDY TO READER: The results showed short-term and long-term effectiveness of a PEF-based self-management program in persistent asthma. Gathering long-term follow-up data (6 years) is a major finding of the study. More investigations of this nature should be conducted with respect to the self-management of asthma.

BA Milenkovic et al. Peak Expiratory Flow-Guided Self-Management Treatment of Asthma in Serbia. Journal of Asthma, 2007;44:699-704.