WASHINGTON — Half of children aged 7–9 years are primarily responsible for taking their asthma medication, according to the results of one study presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.
More than two-thirds of the surveyed children and parents reported that the child takes asthma medications on his or her own all or most of the time—68% of children and 66% of parents, said Lynn Olson, Ph.D., codirector of practice and research for the American Academy of Pediatrics in Elk Grove Village, Ill.
The data come from the Child Health Information Reporting Project. For the project, children ranging in age from 7 to 16 years were recruited in office and community settings in Chicago, its suburbs, and Cincinnati. A total of 414 parent-child pairs were included; parents and children were interviewed separately.
“We found that the agreement between parent and child was really pretty good … 80% agreeing within 1 percentage point,” including 40% agreeing exactly, Dr. Olson said.
African American children accounted for 46% of the population, with 40% white, 11% Hispanic, and the rest “other.” Forty-two percent of parents reported household incomes of less than $30,000 per year.
Fifty-three percent of parents reported that their child had moderate to severe asthma, with 3.2 mean symptom days reported in the last 2 weeks.
There was no relationship between the child taking responsibility for asthma medication and socioeconomic factors, such as income or the mother's level of education. Whether or not the parent had asthma was not associated with the child's responsibility for taking his or her asthma medication.
Children were more likely to be involved in managing their own asthma medication with increasing age. Among children aged 7–9 years, 56% of children and 50% of parents reported the child had a major role in managing his or her asthma, compared with 73% of children and 74% of parents among children aged 10–13 years, and 86% of children and 78% of parents among those aged 14–16 years.
The researchers also asked parents how often their child took asthma medication, as they should. More than a quarter of parents (28%) reported that their child did so only some or none of the time. Among these parents, 56% reported that the child was primarily responsible for taking his or her medication. Among parents who reported good medication adherence for their child, 71% said that the child was primarily responsible for taking the medication.
“The relationship between responsibility and adherence is complex,” said Dr. Olson, speaking at the meeting sponsored by the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“Relatively little attention has been given to the child's role in medication management. Our observation is that most interventions and education are directed toward the parent,” Dr. Olson said. These findings suggest that asthma management education should be targeted at children as well as parents.