[Self-management of bronchial asthma and emergency admissions due to acute asthma attacks in the elderly].

We hypothesized that an intensive personal educational program would reduce the number of hospital admissions due to acute exacerbations of chronic airflow obstruction in elderly patients. The educational program was designed to improve self-management of asthma in these patients. We compared the number of patients admitted for treatment of acute asthma attacks at Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital from April 1987 through March 1989 (before the program began) with the number admitted from April 1991 through March 1993 (after the program began). Fewer patients were admitted in the latter period than in the former. During the latter period, fewer patients were admitted due to mild or moderate asthma attacks, but there was no such difference in the number admitted due to near-fatal attacks.