Résumé
Study question Smartphone applications present an opportunity to offer timely and personalised care to asthma patients. Will a Chatbot-based application for asthma patients providing educational content and direct access to pulmonology staff improve quality of life, compared to standard therapeutic education? Methods This prospective randomised controlled trial (1:1) occurred from 2022/05/24–2023/10/27. Patients in the Chatbot group had access to a Chatbot-based, educational smartphone application incorporating Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) recommendations, and an algorithm validated by experts, including a member of the GINA scientific committee. By interacting with the Chatbot, patients could trigger a mechanism that directly alerted the pulmonology team when patient follow-up was required. The controls (Standard group) partook in standard therapeutic asthma education training. The primary outcome was change in Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) scores from baseline to 6 months. Results 48/69(69.57%) of patients (mean ( sd ) age: 48.43(16.38)) were female. 29/34(85.3%) in the Chatbot and 29/35(82.9%) in the Standard group had severe asthma (GINA 4–5). Baseline AQLQ, asthma control (ACQ5), and spirometry metrics did not differ between groups. After adjustment, multiple regression analysis indicated that improvements in AQLQ scores were greater in the Chatbot group than in the Standard group (Standardised beta=0.279, 95%CI: 0.004–0.555; p=0.047). Changes in ACQ5 and spirometry metrics did not differ between groups. Conclusions Use of the Chatbot-guided application for asthma education and support was associated with greater improvements in quality of life than Standard therapeutic education.