Previous population health studies suggest that up to 10% of Canadian adults have undiagnosed asthma or COPD- these people are currently undiagnosed and untreated, even though they may have significant respiratory symptoms. Our study will use targeted casefinding to find people with undiagnosed asthma and COPD in Canadian communities. The investigators will assess their symptoms and their health care use and number of sick days to determine the burden of undiagnosed respiratory disease in these people. The investigators will then determine whether early treatment of previously undiagnosed airflow obstruction will improve patients' health outcomes.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
508
The respirologist will determine the clinical extent of the patient's symptoms, activity limitation, and degree of airflow obstruction and will commence the subject on asthma or COPD medications if indicated
Smoking cessation counselling by a qualified educator if currently smoking
Standardized education for asthma or COPD disease
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Vancouver General Hospital- The Lung Centre
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
St. Boniface General Hospital
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
St. Clare's Mercy Hospital
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Kingston General Hospital
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
London Health Sciences Centre
London, Ontario, Canada
The Ottawa Hospital-General Campus
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
...and 5 more locations
Annual rate of patient initiated healthcare utilization events for respiratory illness
Number of visits for respiratory illnesses divided by the length of time in the study
Time frame: 12 months
Changes in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) measured in litres (L) using pre bronchodilator spirometry testing and post bronchodilator spirometry testing.
The change will be expressed as the mean change in the FEV1 measurements at 12 months in comparison to the lung function measurements on the day of randomization.
Time frame: 12 months
Quality of life changes as assessed by the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) Health Survey Questionnaire
The change in general health status will be expressed as the total score of the SF-36 Health Survey Questionnaire at 12 months minus the score on the day of randomization. A total change of 8-10 points in the SF-36 has been established as the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for this questionnaire. Higher scores indicate better health status.
Time frame: 12 months
Change in disease-specific quality of life quantified using the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ).
The change in disease-specific quality of life will be expressed as the total St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire score at 12 months minus the score on the day of randomization. This questionnaire includes 3 domains: symptoms (distress caused by specific respiratory symptoms); activity (physical activities that cause or are limited by breathlessness); and impact (social and psychological effects of the respiratory disease). A total change of - 4 points in the SGRQ total score has been established as the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for this questionnaire. Higher scores indicate poor health status.
Time frame: 12 months
Changes in overall respiratory symptoms (including cough, sputum and dyspnea) will be assessed using the COPD Assessment Test (CAT)
The change in overall respiratory symptom burden will be expressed as the total score of the COPD Assessment Test at 12 months minus the score on the day of randomization. A total change of - 2 points in the CAT total score has been established as the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for this questionnaire. Higher scores indicate higher burden.
Time frame: 12 months
Smoking cessation rate
The number of participants who quit smoking over the 12 month period.
Time frame: 12 months
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