Introduction: Disease management programmes may enhance the quality of care provided to patients suffering chronic diseases.
Objective: To systematically assess the effectiveness of COPD disease management programmes.
Methods: Computerised search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), for studies evaluating interventions
meeting our operational definition of disease management: >2 different intervention components; >2 healthcare professionals
actively involved in patients' care; patient education; intervention lasting >12 months. Two reviewers evaluated 12,749 titles,
fully reviewed 124 articles, identified and extracted data from 13 articles selected by using inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Main clinical outcomes were: all-cause mortality, lung function, exercise capacity, health-related quality-of-life, symptoms,
COPD exacerbations and healthcare utilisation. Meta-analysis of all-cause mortality could appropriately be performed (random
effects model).
Results: Studies included consisted of 9 randomised controlled trials, 1 controlled trial, and 3 uncontrolled before-after trials.
Results suggest that disease management programmes decrease risk of hospitalisation and modestly improve health-related quality-of-life
and exercise capacity outcomes. All-cause mortality did not differ between groups (OR 0.84, 95%CI 0.54–1.40).
Conclusion: COPD disease management programmes seem to improve patient outcomes and health system utilisation outcomes. Future studies
should explore the programmes' specific elements or characteristics that bring the greatest benefit.
Presentation slides available from: http://www.integratedcarenetwork.org/Sweden2008/slides/01-03-peytremann-brideveaux.ppt