A new study recently released suggests that adherence with daily asthma "controller" medications among children with asthma can be enhanced with school-based supervised asthma therapy.

The study is published in the February 2009 journal Pediatrics. Researchers from the University of Alabama, Birmingham looked at asthma control in 290 children in 36 schools. The children were randomized to receive school-based, supervised therapy or usual care.

According to researchers, no change in asthma control was seen in children in the control group during the 15-month follow-up period. For the group who had supervised asthma therapy at school, the likelihood of poor asthma control was 57 percent higher in the period before the study than during the follow-up period, indicating that supervised asthma therapy had a marked impact on their asthma symptoms.

"Once daily supervised asthma therapy is a simple intervention that improves asthma control," lead researcher Dr. Lynn B. Gerald wrote.

Doctors who have children with poorly controlled asthma possibly due to nonadherence to controller medication "should consider coordinating supervised therapy with the parent and the child's school" they concluded.

More Information: Asthma (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)