Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic disease with a high prevalence and rapidly increasing incidence rates. The effect of self-treatment of COPD exacerbations on the severity of exacerbations during a 1-year period was examined and a cost-effectiveness analysis was performed. Patients were randomly allocated to four 2-hour self-management sessions, with or without training in self-treatment of exacerbations. Patients in the self-treatment group received an action plan with the possibility to initiate a course of prednisolone (with or without antibiotics). During follow-up, all participants kept a daily symptom diary. These provided the data to calculate the frequency of exacerbations, the number of exacerbation days and mean daily severity scores. Data were analysed for 142 randomised patients. The frequency of exacerbations was identical in both study groups. Patients in the self-treatment group reported fewer exacerbation days in the self-treatment group vs 40 in the control group; the difference was significant in the group of patients with a high number of exacerbation days per year. The mean severity score of an exacerbation day was equal in both groups. No between-group differences were found in health-related quality of life. Cost-effectiveness analyses showed that applying self-treatment saved euro154 per patient, with a trend towards a lower probability for hospital admissions and a significant reduction of health care contacts.
Self-treatment of exacerbations incorporated in a self-management programme leads to fewer exacerbation days and lower costs.