Keywords
patient education
war
monitoring
Abstract
In press
Background. During the war in Ukraine, many patients experience an exacerbation of bronchial asthma due to treatment interruptions and limited access to diagnostic facilities, which necessitates a revision of approaches to patient care.
Aim. To determine the role of a remote "Asthma School" in the control of bronchial asthma in patients under martial law.
Materials and Methods. The study included 42 patients with Bronchial Asthma (BA), aged 20 to 60 years, with a disease duration of 5 to 15 years. There were 28 women (66.7%) and 14 men (33.3%). The patients were divided into three groups of 14: Group 1 – mild asthma, Group 2 – moderate asthma, and Group 3 – severe asthma. Four consecutive surveys were conducted using the Asthma Control Test (ACT) before and after the onset of martial law in 2022. Statistical analysis was performed using Excel 2016 (Microsoft, USA) and Statistica 10.0 (StatSoft, USA), with paired Student's t-test for comparisons. Results with normal distribution are presented as mean ± standard deviation (M±SD). The study was conducted as part of the master's thesis "The role of asthma schools in asthma management in a frontline city" (2024–2026).
Research Ethics. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association (1964–2024). Patients provided informed consent.
Results. At the first and second assessments, all groups showed good asthma control with a trend toward slight improvement. The third assessment (during martial law) revealed a significant decrease in ACT scores in all groups: Group 1 – to [14.2±1.8], Group 2 – to [16.3±1.4], and Group 3 – to [19.4±1.1] (p<0.05). The fourth assessment (after implementation of the remote "Asthma School") showed increases: Group 1 to [17.3±1.5], Group 2 to [19.2±1.2], and Group 3 to [20.3±1.2]. A trend toward restoration of asthma control was observed in Groups 2 and 3 (p>0.05), while statistically significant residual decompensation persisted in Group 1 (p<0.05).
Conclusions. During martial law, a significant decline in asthma symptom control was observed in all groups. The greatest decrease was noted in patients with mild asthma, while patients with severe asthma demonstrated the highest resilience to the negative impact of the war. The introduction of the remote "Asthma School" contributed to a significant improvement in ACT scores.
Keywords: respiratory diseases, patient education, war, monitoring.
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