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Inhaled Steroids Lead to Big Drop in Asthma Deaths at Texas Hospital: Study

Posted 12 days ago by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, May 15 – Patient education and medication compliance contributed to a 74 percent drop in the number of patients with life-threatening asthma admitted to the intensive care unit at University Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, researchers report. Their review of 30 years of hospital data focused on patients with severe asthma who didn't respond to standard inhalers. They found that there were 227 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with 280 episodes of life-threatening asthma between 1980 and 2010. One patient died, but the death was from a different cause after the patient's asthma improved, according to the team at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. "The main reason for the decline in cases is that more of our patients are taking their controller medications, such as inhaled corticosteroids, which reduce the amount of inflammation in the ... Read more

Strides Made in Diagnosing, Treating Lupus

Posted 17 days ago by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, May 10 – Sometimes it takes years for people to get diagnosed with lupus. That wasn't the case for Marisa Zeppieri-Caruana, who had so many of the classic systemic lupus erythematosus symptoms – such as a butterfly-shaped rash on her face, a daily fever and achy joints – that her doctor knew right away that the 23-year-old had the illness. Since then, Zeppieri-Caruana, now 34, has been hospitalized 30 times and has had four mini-strokes along with numerous other problems related to her lupus. Most people who have lupus go through periods where they have active disease (flares) and periods where they don't have any symptoms (remission). Unfortunately, Zeppieri-Caruana said she's never had a time where she's been totally in remission. "An average day for me includes fatigue and fever. It's really hard to try to put weight on, and I usually don't feel like doing anything. I ... Read more

New Guidelines Issued for Severe Lupus

Posted 3 May 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, May 3 – When diagnosed with lupus, one in three people already has kidney inflammation, and during the first 10 years with the disease as many as 60 percent of patients will have some kidney problems. Because kidney inflammation (also called lupus nephritis) is so common in people with lupus, the American College of Rheumatology has issued new guidelines for the screening and management of this potentially devastating complication of lupus. "Without treatment, lupus nephritis can lead to end-stage-renal disease, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant. But, not all types are this serious. It depends on the pattern of damage to the kidneys," said the lead author of the new guidelines, Dr. Bevra Hahn, a professor of medicine and chief of rheumatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Hahn said the course of lupus ... Read more

Arthritis in Children Linked to Infections

Posted 1 May 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, May 1 – Children with juvenile arthritis have higher rates of bacterial infection when hospitalized than children without arthritis, a new study says. While taking high-dose steroids was associated with a higher infection risk among kids with arthritis, other arthritis drugs – methotrexate and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) inhibitors – were not. Researchers analyzed Medicaid data on nearly 8,500 children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and more than 360,000 arthritis-free children. Idiopathic means that a disease occurs without a known cause. Pharmacy claims were examined to determine arthritis patients' use of drugs that suppress the immune system, including high-dose glucocorticoids (steroids), methotrexate and TNF inhibitors, according to the study published May 1 in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. Kids with arthritis who were not currently treated with ... Read more

Seniors Undertreated for Asthma, and Many Skip Inhalers: Study

Posted 1 May 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, May 1 – Asthma often is misdiagnosed and undertreated in older people, with only 53 percent of those with asthma using prescribed inhalers, a small new study suggests. The study included 77 people, including people both with and without asthma, who were over age 60. Of those with asthma, 89 percent also had allergies to mold, animals or dust mites. The asthma patients were more likely than those without asthma to have hay fever, arthritis, diabetes, higher levels of pain and poor general health than those without asthma. The study appears in the May issue of the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. "Those with asthma reported more infections, physician visits and impact on health, yet only half are regularly treating the disease," lead author and allergist Dr. Andrew Smith said in a journal news release. "Patients should regularly carry and take prescribed asthma ... Read more

Steroids May Help Some With Sciatica

Posted 16 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, April 16 – New research suggests that epidural steroids provided better relief for some patients with sciatica, a searing pain that shoots from the lower back straight down the leg, than Enbrel, a newer type of anti-inflammatory drug. Yet the differences were "modest" and did not reach statistical significance. And while more patients reported pain relief one month after receiving epidural steroids, the relief didn't necessarily last. At six months, steroids weren't any better than Enbrel (etanercept) or a third treatment tested, injections containing saline and a local anesthetic. "We found a pretty strong suggestion that steroids were better than both of the other treatments, and the etanercept wasn't better than saline, in the short-term," said study author Dr. Steven Cohen, a professor of anesthesia at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and director of ... Read more

Rapid Asthma Treatment in ER May Prevent Admission

Posted 6 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, April 6 – Rapid treatment with asthma medications seems to help reduce hospitalizations among children with asthma, a new study finds. Canadian researchers analyzed data from 406 children and found that those with moderate or severe asthma attacks who received systemic corticosteroids within 75 minutes of arriving at a hospital emergency department were 16 percent less likely to be admitted to the hospital. Corticosteroids reduce inflammation. The findings illustrate the importance of rapidly identifying and treating children with asthma when they arrive at an emergency department, the researchers said. The study was recently published online in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine. "We knew that corticosteroids could help avoid hospital admissions and relapses. However, just how delays between emergency department admission and administration of the treatment impacted ... Read more

Heavy Kids May Not Respond as Well to Asthma Meds

Posted 4 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

SUNDAY, March 4 – Overweight children may not respond as well to common asthma medicines known as inhaled corticosteroids, new research finds. As a result, they may need more of the long-term control medication, said researcher Dr. Pia Hauk, an assistant professor of pediatrics at National Jewish Health, in Denver. "In our patient population, and we see a lot of severe asthmatics, the overweight and obese children have about twice as high an inhaled corticosteroid requirement than those of a healthy weight," Hauk said. The study was small, including just 61 children with asthma, aged 2 to 18, so the results should not be considered conclusive. Thirty-four children were at healthy weights, 13 were overweight and 14 obese. Most of the kids, 56, used inhaled corticosteroids. The researchers noted each child's weight and body-mass index (BMI) – a measurement based on height and weight – ... Read more

Asthma Meds Likely Safe During Pregnancy: Study

Posted 20 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 – A new study found no statistically significant link between asthma medication use during pregnancy and common birth defects. However, the study did find a positive association between some rare birth defects and mothers with asthma, and potentially with their medication use. But, the researchers couldn't tease out whether the problem was a loss of oxygen from less than well-controlled asthma or an effect of medications. "Worsening asthma is a risk to the mom and the fetus. Hypoxia (a lack of oxygen) we know is a problem for a developing fetus. And, the potential risk they found here is very small. Even if it turns out to be a true increase, the risk is so small. This study raises more questions than it answers," said Dr. Natalie Meirowitz, chief of the division of maternal fetal medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y. What's most ... Read more

Younger Adults on Multiple Meds at Risk for Falls: Study

Posted 17 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Jan. 17 – Young and middle-aged adults who take two or more prescription drugs at any one time may be at increased risk for accidental falls, a new study finds. The effect is similar to that seen in elderly people, according to the report published online Jan. 17 in the journal Injury Prevention. In the study, the researchers looked at data from 344 working-age people who died or required hospital admission within 48 hours of an accidental fall at home in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2005 and 2006. They were compared with 352 randomly selected age-matched people in the general population. The investigators found that people who took two or more prescription drugs were 2.5 times more likely to suffer an injury in an accidental fall than those who took one or no medicine. The findings held true even after accounting for personal, social and lifestyle factors such as drinking, ... Read more

Study Offers Clues to Why Some Don't Benefit From Asthma Drugs

Posted 6 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Jan. 6 – Almost half of patients with mild or moderate asthma may have a different type of disease than those with more severe symptoms, perhaps explaining why common treatments don't work well for them, new research suggests. "We are beginning to understand that different 'flavors' of asthma probably have different molecular mechanisms," said Dr. John Fahy, director of the Airway Clinical Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco. He is the senior author of the new study, published online Friday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Asthma is a chronic disease involving inflamed airways. As the airways become more swollen, the muscles around them can tighten when something triggers symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. Current anti-inflammatory treatments target a condition called eosinophilic airway ... Read more

Asthma Drugs in Pregnancy Might Pose Risk for Kids

Posted 16 Dec 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Dec. 16 – Infants born to mothers who use inhaled glucocorticoids – a class of steroids – to treat asthma during pregnancy may be at risk for endocrine and metabolic disorders, a new study indicates. Researchers looked at more than 65,000 mother-child pairs from the Danish National Birth Cohort who were followed from early pregnancy into childhood. Of the women in the study, about 61,000 (94 percent) had no asthma during pregnancy while almost 4,100 (6 percent) did have asthma during pregnancy. At the end of follow-up, the median age for the children was about 6, with an age range of about 3.5 to 9. For mothers who used the asthma inhalers, budesonide (Pulmicort) was the most common glucocorticoid. The use of inhaled glucocorticoids during pregnancy was not associated with an increased risk of most diseases in children, with the exception of endocrine and metabolic disorders. ... Read more

Steroids May Boost Survival for Very Preemie Babies

Posted 6 Dec 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Dec. 6 – Giving steroids to pregnant women at risk for preterm birth as early as 23 weeks during their pregnancy may boost an infant's overall chance of survival and reduce the baby's risk of serious developmental issues, including brain injury, a new study says. The study, published in the Dec. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is potentially significant, according to experts who are not affiliated with the study. Current guidelines suggest administering prenatal steroids to women who are at risk for delivering between the 24th and 34th week of their pregnancy, but make no recommendations about what to do if women show signs of labor before week 24. Most "full-term" babies are born between 38 and 42 weeks. Steroids help the infants' lungs develop and this increases survival rates and lowers their risk of brain injury. The new study provides some ... Read more

More Children Using Preventive Asthma Drugs: Study

Posted 5 Dec 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Dec. 5 – About one in three children with asthma is currently using a preventive medication, according to new research. That number is up from about 18 percent of kids during the late 1980s. Preventive asthma medications help control the airway disease before symptoms flare up, and guidelines from the U.S. National Asthma Education and Prevention Program recommend their use. "The main finding from our study was that over 20 years, the use of medicines to prevent asthma has increased among children with asthma," said the study's lead author, Dr. Brian Kit, a medical epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. Commenting on the study, Dr. Shean Aujla, a pediatric pulmonologist at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said, "I think it's encouraging that there's been an increase in the use of preventive ... Read more

Intermittent Steroid Use Called OK for Wheezing Preschoolers

Posted 23 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 23 – Preschoolers who have recurrent wheezing episodes but not an asthma diagnosis are often prescribed inhaled steroid medication, and new research suggests it's OK to take those medications on an as-needed basis instead of every day. Respiratory illnesses frequently trigger severe wheezing in young children, and the treatment for some of these kids – using inhaled steroid medications such as budesonide (Pulmicort) on a daily basis – might expose them to more of the drugs than necessary, the researchers said. "We learned that the daily, low-dose treatment regimen of inhaled budesonide was no better than a high-dose regimen used for seven days during a specific respiratory illness," said the study's lead author, Dr. Robert Zeiger, a clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, and director of allergy research at Kaiser Permanente in San ... Read more

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