How to Treat Kids' Hard-to-Control Asthma
Different Kids Do Best With Different "Step-Up" Treatments
March 17, 2010 - What's the next step when a child's regular steroid inhaler fails to prevent asthma attacks? Different kids do best with different step-up treatments, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows.
The drugs with the best chance of success -- 45% -- are long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs), the study suggests. But safety concerns limit the use of these agents, the best known of which are Serevent and Foradil and the combination products Advair and Symbicort.
About 30% of kids, the study found, do best either with a leukotriene-receptor antagonist (LTRA, brands include Accolate, Singulair, and Zyflo) or by doubling the dose of the child's current inhaled steroid medication.
"Nearly all the children had a differential response to each step-up therapy," found University of Wisconsin researcher Robert F. Lemanske Jr., MD, and colleagues.
The Anatomy of an Asthma Attack
The study enrolled 182 children age 6 to 17 years. All had recent asthma attacks despite using a steroid inhaler twice a day.
For three 16-week periods, each child continued on his or her baseline dose of inhaled corticosteroid and tried a different step-up treatment -- a LABA (Advair), a LTRA (Singulair), or a double dose of their steroid inhaler (Flovent).
The bottom line: No clear winner. Moreover, there were few clues to predict which kids were most likely to do best on which step-up treatment. The few clues to emerge:
But neither age, sex, year-long allergies, lung function, previous use or nonuse of inhaled steroids, number of days asthma was under control before step-up treatment, or number of recent asthma attacks predicted which step-up treatment would work best.
Advice to parents and doctors comes in an editorial by Erika von Mutius, MD, of University Children's Hospital, Munich; and Jeffrey M. Drazen, MD, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.
How to Treat Kids' Hard-to-Control Asthma
Different Kids Do Best With Different "Step-Up" Treatments
March 17, 2010 - What's the next step when a child's regular steroid inhaler fails to prevent asthma attacks? Different kids do best with different step-up treatments, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows.
The drugs with the best chance of success -- 45% -- are long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs), the study suggests. But safety concerns limit the use of these agents, the best known of which are Serevent and Foradil and the combination products Advair and Symbicort.
About 30% of kids, the study found, do best either with a leukotriene-receptor antagonist (LTRA, brands include Accolate, Singulair, and Zyflo) or by doubling the dose of the child's current inhaled steroid medication.
"Nearly all the children had a differential response to each step-up therapy," found University of Wisconsin researcher Robert F. Lemanske Jr., MD, and colleagues.
The Anatomy of an Asthma Attack
Treating Tough Asthma
The study enrolled 182 children age 6 to 17 years. All had recent asthma attacks despite using a steroid inhaler twice a day.
For three 16-week periods, each child continued on his or her baseline dose of inhaled corticosteroid and tried a different step-up treatment -- a LABA (Advair), a LTRA (Singulair), or a double dose of their steroid inhaler (Flovent).
The bottom line: No clear winner. Moreover, there were few clues to predict which kids were most likely to do best on which step-up treatment. The few clues to emerge:
- Hispanic and non-Hispanic white children were most likely to have the best response to LABA and least likely to have the best response to doubling inhaled steroid dosage.
- Black children were equally likely to have the best response to LABA or doubling inhaled steroids and less likely to have the best response to LTRA.
- Children who did not have eczema were most likely to have the best response to LABA.
But neither age, sex, year-long allergies, lung function, previous use or nonuse of inhaled steroids, number of days asthma was under control before step-up treatment, or number of recent asthma attacks predicted which step-up treatment would work best.
What Should Parents Do?
Advice to parents and doctors comes in an editorial by Erika von Mutius, MD, of University Children's Hospital, Munich; and Jeffrey M. Drazen, MD, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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