Asthma
« Previous EntriesSurvey highlights economic burden of adult asthma in USA
Thursday, February 17th, 2011Source: MedWire News
Results from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) highlight the significant economic burden of adult asthma in the USA, with medical expenditure on the condition totaling an estimated US $18 billion (€13.3 billion) annually between 2003 and 2005.
“To understand the nature and scope of the burden of asthma in the USA, it is [...]
Inhaled corticosteroids modestly increase risk for Type 2 diabetes
Thursday, October 28th, 2010Source: MedWire News
Patients with respiratory disease treated with inhaled corticosteroids have a modestly increased risk for Type 2 diabetes or progression of existing diabetes, say researchers.
The team notes that the patients with the highest risk were those taking higher corticosteroid doses, such as those prescribed for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Writing in [...]
Improved asthma control linked to increased cardiovascular fitness
Thursday, October 21st, 2010Source: MedWire News
Improvements in asthma control are associated with significant increases in daily physical activity and cardiovascular fitness in children, researchers have found.
Writing in the journal Allergy, Signe Vahlkvist (University of Southern Denmark, Kolding) and colleagues explain that “although several cross-sectional studies have assessed daily physical activity in children with asthma, the impact of the level [...]
Maternal stress may worsen children’s asthma
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010Source: MedWire News
Maternal anger, irritation, and emotion suppression are associated with increased asthma severity in young children, results from a Japanese study suggest.
Writing in the journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine, Jun Nagano (Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka) and team explain that “parents may, when they are in a stressful situation or when they have certain [...]
Asthma, COPD linked to reduced BMD, fractures in men
Sunday, July 11th, 2010Source: MedWire News
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are independently associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD) and an increased risk for fractures in men, study results show.
“A history of COPD or asthma may be a useful clinical risk factor to identify patients with osteoporosis,” suggest Thuy Dam (Columbia University, New York, USA) and [...]
Improved home heating reduces school absences in asthmatic children
Friday, May 14th, 2010Installing effective, non-polluting heating in the home reduces the number of missed school days in children with asthma, results from a New Zealand study show.
“Children with a chronic illness, such as asthma, are likely to have significantly more days off school than healthy children,” explain Philippa Howden-Chapman (University of Otago, Wellington) and team. “It is [...]
Asthma Life Impact Scale is ‘reliable and valid’
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010Source: Med Wire News
The newly developed 22-item Asthma Life Impact Scale (ALIS) appears to be a reliable and valid tool for comprehensively assessing the holistic impact of asthma from the patient’s perspective, say researchers.
The new tool fills a gap left by many current patient-reported outcome questionnaires that focus on the symptoms of asthma and a [...]
Asthma Fatalities Linked To Controller Medicine Underuse.
Friday, March 12th, 2010MedPage Today (3/4, Gever) reported, “Almost everyone who died from an out-of-hospital acute asthma attack in Milwaukee over a four-year period had one thing in common: they weren’t using inhaled corticosteroids,” according to researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “Of 22 out-of-hospital asthma deaths from 2004 to 2008, the [...]
Study supports pollution link to asthma in childhood
Friday, March 12th, 2010Source: MedWire News
Exposure to increased levels of air pollution in early childhood is associated with an increased risk for asthma and related symptoms at the age of 8 years, research shows.
“Exposure to ambient air pollution can exacerbate existing asthma,” explain Ulrike Gehring (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) and team. “The role of exposure to ambient air [...]
Poorly-controlled childhood asthma common despite consistent ICS use
Sunday, January 31st, 2010Source: MedWire News
Many children with mild-to-moderate asthma do not achieve good control of their disease despite consistent use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), researchers have found.
Writing in the Annals of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, Gregory Sawicki (Children’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts, USA) and team explain: “Daily controller medication use is recommended for children with persistent asthma to achieve [...]
