Background. Few studies have explored how providers communicate about control medications during pediatric asthma visits. Objectives. The purpose of this study was to: (a) describe the extent to which providers discuss, educate, and ask children and their caregivers questions about control medications and (b) examine how child, caregiver, and provider characteristics are associated with provide...

Montelukast is a leukotriene receptor antagonist that is effective in the treatment of allergic rhinitis and asthma. We report a rare case of a 31-year-old woman with a history of allergic rhinitis and moderate persistent asthma, who experienced severe bruising on her lower extremities after starting montelukast treatment. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of unusual bruising during...

BACKGROUND Despite increasing awareness of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program guidelines, the relative contribution of symptom frequency or pulmonary function to the recommended asthma severity levels remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To determine whether adding lung function measurements to clinical history substantially changes the asthma severity classification, thereb...

STUDY POPULATION. Patients (N 1071) were aged 12 to 75 years with moderate-to-severe persistent allergic asthma that was inadequately controlled with ICSs. Eight percent of the patients were aged 12 to 18 years. All patients had confirmed allergic asthma, an immunoglobulin E (IgE) level between 30 and 700 IU/mL, and a baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) between 40% and 80%. Dat...

BACKGROUND IL-17 is a major cytokine player in T cell mediated leukocyte associated inflammation. IL-17 is also recognized to participate in the pathophysiology of asthma. OBJECTIVE To determine the role of IL-17 in predicting severe asthma. METHODS We obtained serum samples from asthmatic children under the age of 5-year in three different groups of mild (n=33), moderate (n=28) and severe ...

   Cromolyn sodium, a mast cell stabilizing agent, provides an immediate protective effect against the exercise-induced bronchoconstriction while being used before the exercise. However, cromolyn is ineffective in reversing asthmatic bronchospasm; it is used as a maintenance therapy and has a prophylactic role in chronic asthma.    The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of change...