PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Annerika H M Slok AU - Daniel Kotz AU - Gerard van Breukelen AU - Niels H Chavannes AU - Maureen P M H Rutten-van Mölken AU - Huib A M Kerstjens AU - Thys van der Molen AU - Guus M Asijee AU - P N Richard Dekhuijzen AU - Sebastiaan Holverda AU - Philippe L Salomé AU - Lucas M A Goossens AU - Mascha Twellaar AU - Johannes C C M in ‘t Veen AU - Onno C P van Schayck TI - Effectiveness of the Assessment of Burden of COPD (ABC) tool on health-related quality of life in patients with COPD: a cluster randomised controlled trial in primary and hospital care AID - 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011519 DP - 2016 Jul 01 TA - BMJ Open PG - e011519 VI - 6 IP - 7 4099 - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/7/e011519.short 4100 - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/7/e011519.full SO - BMJ Open2016 Jul 01; 6 AB - Objective Assessing the effectiveness of the Assessment of Burden of COPD (ABC) tool on disease-specific quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) measured with the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), compared with usual care.Methods A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial, in 39 Dutch primary care practices and 17 hospitals, with 357 patients with COPD (postbronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio <0.7) aged ≥40 years, who could understand and read the Dutch language. Healthcare providers were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. The intervention group applied the ABC tool, which consists of a short validated questionnaire assessing the experienced burden of COPD, objective COPD parameter (eg, lung function) and a treatment algorithm including a visual display and treatment advice. The control group provided usual care. Researchers were blinded to group allocation during analyses. Primary outcome was the number of patients with a clinically relevant improvement in SGRQ score between baseline and 18-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes were the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC; a measurement of perceived quality of care).Results At 18-month follow-up, 34% of the 146 patients from 27 healthcare providers in the intervention group showed a clinically relevant improvement in the SGRQ, compared with 22% of the 148 patients from 29 healthcare providers in the control group (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.08 to 3.16). No difference was found on the CAT (−0.26 points (scores ranging from 0 to 40); 95% CI −1.52 to 0.99). The PACIC showed a higher improvement in the intervention group (0.32 points (scores ranging from 1 to 5); 95% CI 0.14 to 0.50).Conclusions This study showed that use of the ABC tool may increase quality of life and perceived quality of care.Trial registration number NTR3788; Results.