Newswise Medical, July 17, 2007 EDMONTON, Alberta - A new review of studies suggests that people with asthma who receive disease education during, or soon after, a serious emergency-room visit are less likely to be re-admitted to the hospital than patients who receive no instruction. The reviewers analyzed 12 randomized controlled studies involving 1,954 patients. All study participants visited the emergency department for a severe asthma attack. Some patient groups received usual care plus asthma education; others received usual care only. Doctors say education and self-management training are mainstays of most chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension. The goal is to teach patients to maintain better control of their illness, which might improve health and require less interaction with the healthcare system. The differing educational programs and varying health measures made it difficult to draw conclusions from the studies. "It tells us that we need to be very specific in outcome measurements and to specify at the beginning what intervention we are going to make," said William Calhoun, director of Allergy, Pulmonary, Immunology, Critical Care and Sleep at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.  "We need very clear, well-designed studies on asthma education and its effects," Calhoun said. He did not participate in the Cochrane review.