BACKGROUND Patients with acute asthma treated in the emergency department (ED) are frequently treated with inhaled beta(2)-agonists and systemic corticosteroids after discharge. The use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) following discharge may also be beneficial in improving patient outcomes after acute asthma. OBJECTIVES To determine the effectiveness of ICS on outcomes in the treatment of ac...

BACKGROUND Inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy improves asthma outcome. Both the anti-inflammatory efficacy and toxicities of ICS therapy are dose dependent. Therefore, there is interest in monitoring airway inflammation during ICS dose adjustments. OBJECTIVE Fraction of expired nitric oxide (FENO) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) pH were studied as noninvasive, corticosteroid-responsive ...

OBJECTIVE To identify the most common diseases and age of corticosteroid use in women over 50, dosage in last year, duration of oral corticosteroid use, prescription for fracture prevention (drug used), and referrals for bone densitometry. METHODS General practice records from 41 practices in Shropshire identified 62,230 women aged >50 from a population of 80,082. Data on fractures, duration ...

OBJECTIVE Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are preferred first-line controller agents for adults and adolescents with asthma. There is limited effectiveness data comparing ICS to leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA) in children with asthma aged 4 to 11 years. METHODS A retrospective, matched cohort study was conducted using medical and pharmacy claims data. Asthma patients (ICD-9, 493.xx) naï...

BACKGROUND Oral corticosteroids (OCS) are a mainstay of asthma treatment. Their use increases the risk of various corticosteroid-related adverse events, but the extent of risk is poorly characterized. OBJECTIVE To determine the incremental risk of possible corticosteroid-related adverse events (AE) in asthma among patients with high OCS use compared with patients who do not use OCS. METHODS...

Severe refractory asthma poses a substantial burden in terms of healthcare costs but relatively little is known about the factors which drive these costs. This study uses data from the British Thoracic Society Difficult Asthma Registry (n=596) to estimate direct healthcare treatment costs from an National Health Service perspective and examines factors that explain variations in costs. Annual m...

Background: Asthma, a chronic, non-communicable disease has been shown to negatively affect mental health and quality of life among adults. Annually approximately 8% adult Nevadans report current asthma symptoms 12.6% having lifetime diagnosis. The purpose this study was evaluate the association between depression explore factors affecting with asthma.Methods: Using behavioral risk factor surve...

BACKGROUND Previous guidelines recommend doubling the daily dose of maintenance inhaled corticosteroid to treat or prevent progression of exacerbations of asthma. METHODS Over a 6 month period a cohort of patients were evaluated prospectively and randomised in a double blind controlled trial to treatment with either a continued maintenance dose (MD) of inhaled corticosteroid or doubling the d...

The prototype cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist, montelukast, is generally considered to have a niche application in the therapy of exercise- and aspirin-induced asthma. It is also used as add-on therapy in patients whose asthma is poorly controlled with inhaled corticosteroid monotherapy, or with the combination of a long-acting beta(2)-agonist and an inhaled corticosteroid. Recently, ...

BACKGROUND Severe asthma accounts for a small number of asthmatics but represents a disproportionate cost to health care systems. The underlying mechanism in severe asthma remains unknown but several mechanisms are likely to be involved because of a very heterogeneous profile. We investigated the effects of a p38MAPK inhibitor in corticosteroid sensitivity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells ...