Primary care respiratory journal : journal of the General Practice Airways Group
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomised controlled trial of the effect of automated interactive calling combined with a health risk forecast on frequency and severity of exacerbations of COPD assessed clinically and using EXACT PRO.
We have developed a winter forecasting service to predict when patients with COPD are at higher risk of an exacerbation and alert them via an automated telephone call. ⋯ The ability of the forecast to predict high risk periods was confirmed unequivocally. Alert calls appeared to reduce the frequency and severity of exacerbations but these effects did not reach statistical significance, perhaps because of the number of participants, lower than expected exacerbation rates, and the fact that there was contact with patients in both groups whenever they appeared to be exacerbating.