Urine LTE4 Levels and Lung Function Declines are Highly Correlated in Urban Children with Moderate to Severe Asthma Despite Use of Inhaled Corticosteroids and Long-acting Bronchodilators

2006 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. S176
Author(s):  
N. Rabinovitch
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (01) ◽  
pp. 091-099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kian Fan Chung

AbstractSevere therapy-resistant asthma has been defined as “asthma which requires treatment with high dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) plus a second controller (and/or systemic corticosteroids) to prevent it from becoming ‘uncontrolled’ or which remains ‘uncontrolled’ despite this therapy”. Patients who usually present with ‘difficult-to-treat asthma’ should first be assessed to determine whether he/she has asthma with the exclusion of other diagnoses and if so, whether the asthma can be classified as severe therapy-resistant. This necessitates an assessment of adherence to medications, confounding factors, and comorbidities. Increasingly, management of severe therapy-resistant asthma will be helped by the determination of phenotypes to optimize responses to existing and new therapies. Severe asthma patients are usually on a combination of high dose ICS and long-acting β-agonist (LABA) and, in addition, are often on a maintenance dose of oral corticosteroids. Phenotyping can be informed by measuring blood eosinophil counts and the level of nitric oxide in exhaled breath, and the use of sputum granulocytic counts. Severe allergic asthma and severe eosinophilic asthma are two defined phenotypes for which there are efficacious targeted biologic therapies currently available, namely anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) and anti-interleukin (IL)-5 antibodies, respectively. Further progress will be realized with the definition of noneosinophilic or non-T2 phenotypes. It will be important for patients with severe asthma to be ultimately investigated and managed in specialized severe asthma centers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 2102730
Author(s):  
Helen K. Reddel ◽  
Leonard B. Bacharier ◽  
Eric D. Bateman ◽  
Christopher E. Brightling ◽  
Guy G. Brusselle ◽  
...  

The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Strategy Report provides clinicians with an annually updated evidence-based strategy for asthma management and prevention, which can be adapted for local circumstances (e.g., medication availability). This article summarizes key recommendations from GINA 2021, and the evidence underpinning recent changes.GINA recommends that asthma in adults and adolescents should not be treated solely with short-acting beta2-agonist (SABA), because of the risks of SABA-only treatment and SABA overuse, and evidence for benefit of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). Large trials show that as- needed combination ICS-formoterol reduces severe exacerbations by >60% in mild asthma compared with SABA alone, with similar exacerbation, symptom, lung function and inflammatory outcomes as daily ICS plus as-needed SABA.Key changes in GINA 2021 include division of the treatment figure for adults and adolescents into two tracks. Track 1 (preferred) has low-dose ICS-formoterol as the reliever at all steps: as-needed only in Steps 1-2 (mild asthma), and with daily maintenance ICS-formoterol (maintenance-and-reliever therapy, MART) in Steps 3-5. Track 2 (alternative) has as-needed SABA across all steps, plus regular ICS (Step 2) or ICS-long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA) (Steps 3-5). For adults with moderate-to-severe asthma, GINA makes additional recommendations in Step 5 for add-on long-acting muscarinic antagonists and azithromycin, with add-on biologic therapies for severe asthma. For children 6-11  years, new treatment options are added at Steps 3-4.Across all age-groups and levels of severity, regular personalized assessment, treatment of modifiable risk factors, self-management education, skills training, appropriate medication adjustment and review remain essential to optimize asthma outcomes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-18
Author(s):  
N I Ilina ◽  
N M Nenasheva ◽  
S N Avdeev ◽  
Z R Aisanov ◽  
V V Arkhipov ◽  
...  

The article is based on the resolution of the Expert Council, including experts from Russian Association of Allergists and Clinical Immunologists (RAACI) and Russian Respiratory Society (RRS) dated November 20, 2016, and the review of clinical studies results and publications on the biomarker-based diagnosis and biological treatment of severe uncontrolled asthma. The aim of this work is to develop a phenotype-oriented algorithm of diagnostics and treatment of severe asthma, supported by the biomarker testing for subsequent selection of appropriate immunobiological treatment. The article constitutes the summary of results of clinical studies and expert opinions on the treatment of asthma in patients who do not achieve disease control with standard treatment regimens including high doses of inhaled corticosteroids in the combination with long-acting beta-agonists, tiotropium, and medications from other pharmacological groups according to Russian Respiratory Society (2016) and GINA (2016-2017) guidelines. The article summarizes the results of international randomized clinical studies performed to assess safety and efficacy of new class of biological treatments, monoclonal antibodies acting against major cytokines that are responsible for inflammation, in patients with severe asthma, including a new anti-IL-5 antibody, reslizumab (Cinqaero).


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Kaplan ◽  
J. Mark FitzGerald ◽  
Roland Buhl ◽  
Christian Vogelberg ◽  
Eckard Hamelmann

Abstract The Global Initiative for Asthma recommends a stepwise approach to adjust asthma treatment to the needs of individual patients; inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) remain the core pharmacological treatment. However, many patients remain poorly controlled, and evidence-based algorithms to decide on the best order and rationale for add-on therapies are lacking. We explore the challenges of asthma management in primary care and review outcomes from randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses comparing the long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) tiotropium with long-acting β2-agonists (LABAs) or leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRAs) as add-on to ICS in patients with asthma. In adults, LAMAs and LABAs provide a greater improvement in lung function than LTRAs as add-on to ICS. In children, results were positive and comparable between therapies, but data are scarce. This information could aid decision-making in primary care, supporting the use of add-on therapy to ICS to help improve lung function, control asthma symptoms and prevent exacerbations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Donald A. Mahler

Background: Controversy exists about the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although ICS are not approved as monotherapy for COPD, four ICS molecules, beclomethasone, budesonide, fluticasone furoate, and fluticasone propionate, are used widely in combination with long-acting bronchodilators to treat patients with this disease. Objectives: (1) To review the mechanisms of action of ICS therapy that contribute to the clinical benefits in COPD; and (2) to describe improvements in lung function, relief of dyspnea, increase in exercise tolerance, and the reduction in exacerbations with ICS use in COPD. Methods: A critical review of phase III and IV randomized clinical trials that evaluated ICS therapy in patients with COPD. Results: ICS have two major mechanisms of action in human airways: a reduction in edema and inflammation, and a decrease in airway hyperresponsiveness. ICS monotherapy significantly increases the morning peak expiratory flow rate and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (peak and trough) as early as the first day of treatment. Discontinuation of ICS therapy leads to deterioration in lung function. Treatment with ICS, alone and in combination with a long-acting bronchodilator, reduces dyspnea related to daily activities, whereas withdrawal increases breathing difficulty. Patients with COPD exhibit a significant increase in exercise duration with ICS therapy. The combination of ICS with one or more bronchodilators significantly reduces the exacerbation rate compared with bronchodilator therapy alone. The major serious adverse effect is an increased risk of pneumonia. Conclusion: Randomized controlled trials demonstrate that ICS therapy improves both physiologic and clinical outcomes in patients with COPD. These benefits are enhanced when ICS molecules are combined with one or more long-acting bronchodilators.


2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (suppl b) ◽  
pp. 1B-9B ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth R Chapman ◽  
Andre Cartier ◽  
Jacques Hébert ◽  
R Andrew McIvor ◽  
R Robert Schellenberg

BACKGROUND: A novel anti-immunoglobulin E (anti-IgE) therapy for asthma, omalizumab, has been approved for use in Canada.OBJECTIVE: To review the basic and clinical data for omalizumab, and to examine its possible role for asthma management in Canada.METHODS: A literature search from 1960 to 2006 was conducted in MEDLINE to identify studies of omalizumab. In addition, abstracts from recent respiratory and allergy scientific meetings were sought, and any unpublished data were requested from the manufacturer. A consensus panel of respiratory and allergy specialists reviewed and summarized the data, and derived a set of recommendations for omalizumab use.RESULTS: Omalizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody designed to bind to the C epsilon 3 domain of the IgE molecule, forming soluble immune complexes that are cleared by the reticuloendothelial system. Subcutaneous injections, given at two- or fourweek intervals at the recommended dose, result in a rapid decrease in free circulating IgE levels. In two phase III clinical trials of 1405 adult and adolescent patients with moderate to severe asthma maintained on moderate doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), omalizumab reduced exacerbation rates compared with placebo, and was associated with improved symptoms and a greater corticosteroid-sparing effect. In a trial of 419 patients with severe disease that was uncontrolled despite the use of high-dose ICS and concurrent long-acting beta2-agonists, severe exacerbations were 50% less frequent in omalizumabtreated patients than in control subjects. Retrospective analyses have identified the characteristics of patients most likely to respond to omalizumab treatment.RECOMMENDATIONS: Omalizumab may be considered as a potential adjunctive therapy in atopic patients with severe asthma uncontrolled by conventional therapy with optimal doses of ICS and appropriate adjunctive therapy (eg, long-acting beta2-agonists). Typically, patients are identified by the need for frequent short course or continuous oral corticosteroids. Therapy should be initiated only after review by a specialist to confirm the diagnosis and that conventional therapy is optimal.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document