SAN FRANCISCO, May 1 (UPI) -- Four school-based health centers in Cincinnati have resulted in significant improvements in outcomes for children with asthma, finds a U.S. study.
"Improving outcomes through evidence-based care shows that school-based health centers can improve child health," says Dr. Mona Mansour, a physician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and medical director of the school-based health centers. Mansour co-authored the study with Barbara Rose, who was project manager of the quality improvement initiative.
Rose and Mansour followed 212 children with asthma who are enrolled in four school-based health centers in Cincinnati, which provide comprehensive primary, mental and dental health services to children in grades K-8.
The proportion of children receiving perfect care had risen from 24 percent to 84 percent, while children reporting never or rarely having activity restriction rose from 20 percent to 46 percent, according to Mansour.
Asthma-related emergency-room visits decreased 22 percent compared to the year prior to the project, Mansour told the annual Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in San Francisco.
