The high prevalence of asthma, its persistent undertreatment, and the disparate consequences for poor, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic black children have prompted studies on how to improve treatment and outcomes for children. School-based interventions have demonstrated promise for securing better health status for children and reduced costs of care.1- 2
In this issue of the Archives, Halterman and colleagues3 remind us of those earlier studies and underscore the health benefits possible when community- and school-based providers collaborate and partner with parents in the care of children. In this carefully executed study, the implementation of a school-based asthma management system that linked with primary care providers and a home-visit–based parent education program resulted in more symptom-free days for asthmatic children, decreased nighttime symptoms, lowered the use of rescue medications, and increased the number of symptom-free days when compared with participants in a control. By assuring delivery of daily asthma preventive medication and reducing environmental tobacco smoke in the child's home, the intervention “significantly improved symptoms among urban children with persistent asthma.” Every parent and grandparent of a child with asthma knows the true value of these positive outcomes.