The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Identifying which children with persistent asthma have preventive medications available at home.
Objective: To compare caregiver-reported preventive medication use and pharmacy data with medications available at home for children with persistent asthma, and identify factors associated with having preventive medication at home. Methods: We analyzed baseline data from the School-Based Telemedicine Enhanced Asthma Management (SB-TEAM) study, including medication use, symptoms, and demographics. Research assistants documented all asthma medications available during home visits. ⋯ In multivariate analyses, children were less likely to have preventive medication at home when caregivers reported no preventive medication use in the past 2 weeks (OR 0.25; 95% CI 0.14, 0.43), discontinuous insurance (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.19, 0.97), medication sharing (OR 0.54; 95% CI 0.32, 0.91), or caregiver education ≥ HS (OR 0.59; 95% CI 0.35, 0.99). Conclusion: Among urban children with persistent asthma, neither caregiver report nor pharmacy data reflect home preventive medication availability. Inquiring about insurance coverage and medication sharing may improve preventive medication availability for these children.