The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma
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Case Reports
Bronchial thermoplasty: therapeutic success in severe asthma associated with persistent airflow obstruction.
Severe persistent asthma is a disabling condition associated with significant morbidity and rising mortality worldwide. The recent advent of bronchial thermoplasty (BT) has offered a revolutionary therapeutic option for the treatment of severe persistent asthma. This minimally invasive bronchoscopic procedure focuses on anatomical manipulation of bronchial smooth muscle to attenuate airway hyperresponsiveness. ⋯ This case represents BT success and a change to the traditional paradigm governing the treatment of refractory asthma.
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Increasing prevalence of asthma in developing countries has been a significant challenge for public health in recent decades. A number of studies have suggested that ambient air pollution can trigger asthma attacks. Biomass and solid fuels are a major source of indoor air pollution, but in developing countries the health effects of indoor air pollution are poorly understood. In this study we examined the effect of cooking smoke produced by biomass and solid fuel combustion on the reported prevalence of asthma among adult men and women in India. ⋯ The findings have important program and policy implications for countries such as India, where large proportions of the population still rely on polluting biomass fuels for cooking and heating. Decreasing household biomass and solid fuel use and increasing use of improved stove technology may decrease the health effects of indoor air pollution. More epidemiological research with better measures of smoke exposure and clinical measures of asthma is needed to validate the findings.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Effect of omalizumab as add-on therapy on asthma-related quality of life in severe allergic asthma: a Brazilian study (QUALITX).
To assess the impact of omalizumab as an add-on therapy to standard treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and long-acting beta-2 agonists (LABA) on asthma-related quality of life (QoL) in patients with severe allergic asthma. ⋯ Omalizumab was well tolerated and significantly improved the overall AQLQ score. Hence, it is a potential add-on therapy for severe persistent allergic asthma not controlled by standard prescribed treatment in Brazilian patients.
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The aim of our study was to assess the relationship of beliefs about medications questionnaire (BMQ) scores of asthmatic children presenting to the emergency department and their parents with asthma severity parameters. ⋯ BMQ necessity and concerns scores of asthmatic children in the emergency department and their parents are correlated with asthma severity. Although not assessed in this study, this result may be attributed to the relationship of necessity and concerns with drug adherence. Therefore, increasing the knowledge about asthma medications in asthmatic children and their parents may contribute to asthma control and decrease their emergency visits with acute asthma findings.
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Asthma has several phenotypical features, including recurrent exacerbations and recurrent episodes of upper respiratory infection (URI). ⋯ Symptom-severity of asthma and the frequency of severe exacerbations were associated with previous exacerbations and susceptibility to URI.