Top 10 asthma stories of 2022

Healio Pulmonology has compiled the top news on asthma posted in 2022.

Readers were most interested in the relationship between asthma hospitalization and COVID-19, the significance of conducting home mold assessments, a proposed switch to over-the-counter availability of rescue inhalers, the FDA’s approval of the first generic of Symbicort and the risk for ischemic heart disease associated with asthma.

Here are Healio’s top 10 most-read stories on asthma from 2022.

Oral corticosteroid use, prior asthma hospitalization up risk for poor COVID-19 outcomes

Risk for COVID-19 hospitalization, ICU admission or death was increased for adults in Scotland with asthma who had a prior hospitalization or required two or more courses of oral corticosteroids in the previous 2 years, researchers reported. Read more.

Speaker: Clinicians should be prepared to advise patients on home mold remediation

As climate change increases the prevalence of damp indoor environments, which can exacerbate respiratory symptoms and diseases, clinicians should be able to advise patients on safe home mold assessment, a speaker said at the CHEST Annual Meeting. Read more.

A call for switching to OTC availability of asthma rescue inhalers

In a viewpoint published in JAMA, authors propose that switching to OTC availability of rescue inhalers would offer patients with asthma access to safer and more effective rescue therapy than what is currently available OTC. Read more.

FDA approves first generic of Symbicort for asthma, COPD

The FDA announced approval of the first generic of Symbicort — budesonide and formoterol fumarate dihydrate — Inhalation Aerosol for the treatment of asthma and COPD, according to an agency press release. Read more.

Moderate, severe asthma increases risk for ischemic heart disease

Patients with asthma had a greater risk for ischemic heart disease compared with those without asthma, according to a speaker at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting. Read more.

Asthma severity tied to more severe COVID-19 outcomes

All asthma phenotypes were associated with risk for more severe COVID-19 outcomes, except for type 2 inflammation, researchers reported in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Read more.

Study identifies eight signals for asthma-COPD overlap

Researchers identified eight signals for asthma-COPD overlap that appear to represent loci that predispose patients to type 2 inflammation and thus serious long-term consequences of asthma, according to data published in CHEST. Read more.

Overuse of asthma rescue inhalers common, varies among practices

Rates of overprescribing of short-acting beta agonist asthma inhalers remain high and vary significantly among practices, according to data published in the British Journal of General Practice. Read more.

Breathing exercises improve quality of life in incompletely controlled asthma

The addition of breathing exercises to usual care enhanced asthma-related quality of life among patients with incompletely controlled asthma, regardless of severity, without evidence of causing harm, according to study results published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society. Read more.

Fixed-dose albuterol-budesonide rescue inhaler cuts severe asthma attack risk

In patients with uncontrolled moderate to severe asthma, a fixed-dose combination of albuterol and budesonide used as an as-needed rescue medication lowered risk for severe asthma exacerbations compared with albuterol alone. Read more.