Improving chronic disease care in South Tyrol with a new health tool

A quasi-experimental study to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the Assessment of Burden of Chronic Conditions (ABCC) tool in South Tyrolean primary care for patients with COPD, asthma, type 2 diabetes, and heart failure: the ABCC South Tyrol study

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN13531607

Enrollment

354

Registered

2023-08-23

Start date

2025-01-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2024-07-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Perceived quality of care of patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, T2DM, and/or heart failure Not Applicable

Interventions

The intervention for this study is the use of the Assessment of Burden of Chronic Conditions (ABCC) tool, which is a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM). This tool has been specifically designed t

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, T2DM, and/or heart failure 2. Can understand and read German or Italian

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Patients with asthma or COPD who have taken prednisone for an exacerbation within 6 weeks prior to the start of the study 2. Patients with T2DM or heart failure who have been hospitalised within 6 weeks prior to the start of the study

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
The shift in perceived quality of care over an 18-month period, measured using the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) questionnaire at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Shift in perceived quality of care, individually for each chronic condition, measured using the PACIC questionnaire at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months 2. Perceived quality of care against regular care, both for the entire participant group and individually for each chronic condition, measured using the PACIC questionnaire at 6- and 12-month intervals 3. Universal health-related quality of life, measured using the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire, compared to standard care, both for the entire participant group and for each chronic condition separately at 6, 12, and 18-month intervals 4. Participant activation measured using the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) compared to standard care, both for the entire participant group and individually for each chronic condition, at 6, 12, and 18-month intervals 5. Cost-effectiveness analysis of the ABCC tool compared to usual care, focusing on direct medical costs reimbursed by the National Health Service, after an 18-month period	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Shift in perceived quality of care, individually for each chronic condition, measured using the PACIC questionnaire at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months 2. Perceived quality of care against regular care, both for the entire participant group and individually for each chronic condition, measured using the PACIC questionnaire at 6- and 12-month intervals 3. Universal health-related quality of life, measured using the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire, compared to standard care, both for the entire participant group and for each chronic condition separately at 6, 12, and 18-month intervals 4. Participant activation measured using the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) compared to standard care, both for the entire participant group and individually for each chronic condition, at 6, 12, and 18-month intervals 5. Cost-effectiveness analysis of the ABCC tool compared to usual care, focusing on direct medical costs reimbursed by the National Health Service, after an 18-month period

—

Countries

Italy

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 8, 2026