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Latest asthma research from ACAAI 2015
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Researchers presented data on reslizumab, tiotropium bromide, omalizumab and other aspects of asthma management at the 2015 American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting.
Live coverage from San Antonio included presentation summaries and research highlights from experts in the field.
Reslizumab deemed safe, efficacious for treatment of asthma
In a recent extension study, researchers found reslizumab was safe, efficacious and improved Asthma Quality of Life scores for up to 2 years after beginning treatment.
“The significant improvement in [Asthma Quality of Life (AQLQ)] scores observed with reslizumab during placebo-controlled trials was sustained, without diminution, with continued open-label reslizumab 3.0 mg/kg once every 4 weeks for up to 2 years,” Joshua S. Jacobs, MD, from Walnut Creek, Calif., and colleagues wrote in their study abstract. “Reslizumab meaningfully improved AQLQ scores in reslizumab-naive patients during the treatment period, and was well tolerated in this long-term extension study.” Read more.
iPhone app improves residents’ familiarity, use of asthma action plan
The introduction of an iPhone asthma action plan app to residents improved their familiarity and use of the plan in practice.
The mobile app also improved residents’ comfort in treating patients with asthma, Naveen Nannapaneni, MD, an internal medicine resident at Wayne State University in Michigan, told Healio.com/Allergy. Read more.
Spiriva Respimat safe, tolerable as add-on therapy in adolescents with asthma
Once-daily tiotropium bromide as an add-on to inhaled corticosteroid therapy demonstrated comparable safety and tolerability as placebo among adolescents with moderate or severe symptomatic asthma.
“Adding [tiotropium bromide] on to therapy in the teenagers who were not completely controlled caused a benefit in pulmonary function and decrease in [asthma] exacerbations,” Lyndon E. Mansfield, MD, an allergist at Allergy Partners of El Paso, told Healio.com/Allergy. Read more.
Evidence suggests no direct link between compliance, response to omalizumab
Compliance to omalizumab therapy among patients with asthma did not appear correlated to clinical response.
“We expected [the] higher the compliance, [the] better the response would be to any therapy,” Harjinder Singh, MD, told Healio.com/Allergy. “But not in this case. The compliance and response has no direct relationship.” Read more.
One ED visit increases risk for return visits in children with asthma
The likelihood of future ED visits for children presenting with asthma increased exponentially with each additional return visit.
“Our study of asthmatic children found that the number of historical asthma-related acute care visits was predictive of future asthma-related acute care visits,” Jill Hanson, MD, of the Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program at the Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, told Infectious Diseases in Children. “A significant increase in probability of a future visit was observed with each additional historical visit, supporting our model’s ability to effectively risk-stratify patients based solely upon past health care utilization.” Read more.