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Asthma exacerbation within 1 year predicts future exacerbation in children adults
Children and adults with asthma who have had an exacerbation within the past year are at risk for future exacerbations, according to a recent study analyzing asthma patients with inadequately controlled asthma.
“Because most patients with asthma in the United States do not have well-controlled asthma, identification of risk factors for asthma exacerbations in this population has the potential to guide treatment decisions and decrease asthma morbidity and mortality,” Wilson Quezada, MD, from the department of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, and colleagues wrote. “This post hoc analysis of geographically diverse, well-characterized [patients] with uncontrolled asthma enrolled into two prospective clinical trials demonstrates that in children and adults, history of an asthma exacerbation within the previous year is a strong predictor for future exacerbations.”
Quezada and colleagues performed a retrospective analysis of 718 patients (402 adults, 295 children) with inadequately controlled asthma who have undergone asthma controller therapy across two clinical trials, according to the abstract. Exacerbation occurred in 108 adults (27%) and 110 children (37%), with a history of health care visits for asthma-related care or corticosteroid use significantly associated with an exacerbation event (P < .01).
Adults who had an exacerbation event had a lower forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) measurement (2.3 L) compared with a control group (2.5 L; P = .02). Additionally, children who had an exacerbation event also had a lower ratio of FEV1 to forced vital capacity than children without an exacerbation event for baseline pre-bronchodilator (77% vs. 81%; P < .01) and post-bronchodilator (82% vs. 86%; P < .01) ratios. Quezada and colleagues noted adults in the exacerbation group had significantly worse symptom scores compared with adults in the control group; however, there was no significant difference in symptom scores between the children exacerbation and children control groups. – by Jeff Craven
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.