Feature Channels: Asthma

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A new study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology shows that only 15 percent of employed adults with asthma discussed with their doctor how work might affect their condition. However, of the employed adults with asthma, 46 percent had asthma that was possibly work-related.

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Challenging the long-standing belief that city dwellers suffer disproportionately from asthma, the results of a new Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study of more than 23,000 U.S. children reveal that income, race and ethnic origin may play far more potent roles in asthma risk than kids’ physical surroundings.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with collaborators in Korea and Scotland, have identified a novel signaling pathway critical to the immune response of cells associated with the initiation of allergic asthma. The discovery, they say, could point the way to new therapies that suppress the inflammatory allergic response, offering potential relief to millions of Americans with the chronic lung condition and potentially other allergic diseases.

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Participants in a sleep study who had asthma had an increased risk for developing obstructive sleep apnea, with this association stronger with having had asthma longer, according to a study in the January 13 issue of JAMA.

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According to a new study, misuse of epinephrine auto-injectors has been documented in cases of fatal anaphylaxis. In the study, only 16 percent of those prescribed epinephrine for severe allergic reactions used their auto-injector properly, and only 7 percent of those with metered-dose inhalers (MDI) for asthma used them in the right way.

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Asthma that requires daily medication is associated with a significantly higher risk of heart attack or stroke, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH).

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Patients with active asthma — such as any use of asthma medications, and unscheduled office or emergency visits for asthma — are at a twofold risk of having a heart attack, according to Mayo Clinic research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2014.

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A novel program at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that peer trainers who coach parents over the phone on managing their children’s asthma can sharply reduce the number of days the kids experience symptoms. The program also dramatically decreased ER visits and hospitalizations among low-income children with Medicaid insurance.

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Asthma caused or worsened by living near major roadways cost Los Angeles County more than $441 million in 2007 alone, according to a new peer-reviewed article by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Southern California and the University of Basel, Switzerland.

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According to a study presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting, teens and caregivers have different levels of asthma health literacy, and teens don’t necessarily get their information from caregivers when it comes to managing asthma symptoms.

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According to a presentation at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting, as many as 50 percent of older adults with obstructive airway disease have overlapping characteristics of asthma and COPD. And this percentage increases as people get older.

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Children who had their tonsils and adenoids removed for obstructive sleep apnea also had dramatic reductions in acute asthma exacerbations, acute status asthmaticus, asthma-related hospitalizations and ER visits in the first large study of the connections between OSA surgery and asthma.

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Asthma may be more harmful than was previously thought, according to UCLA researchers who found that genetic damage is present in circulating, or peripheral, blood. Doctors previously thought that the genetic damage it caused was limited to the lungs.

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According to a study being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta, November 6-10, mice infestation is a stronger predictor of asthma-related emergency department visits in young children than exposure to cockroaches.

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An article in the October issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, explores the case of a woman who suffers from asthma, and, along with her doctor, realizes that by changing her bike route to and from work every day, she can cut down on the pollution to which she’s exposed, thereby improving her asthma symptoms.

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If you have a child with egg allergies, you may have been told they shouldn’t get the shot because of a possible reaction to the trace amounts of egg in the vaccine. Not true, says the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). Recent research has shown that administration of the flu vaccine is safe for kids with egg allergies.

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In a new study that compared people with and without asthma, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found no difference in the key immune response to viruses in the lungs and breathing passages. The work suggests that a fundamental antiviral defense mechanism is intact in asthma. This means that another aspect of the immune system must explain the difficulty people with asthma have when they encounter respiratory viruses.

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Patients with severe asthma often require high doses of steroid-based treatments that can significantly impair their quality of life. This new drug is the only therapy that has been proven to be effective in well-established clinical trials to help reduce doses of steroid-based treatments such as prednisone for those with severe asthma.

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A new article in the September issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), examines the premise that obesity contributes to childhood asthma – rather than the other way around.