Allergy News

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of Asthma – Evaluation and Management 2007 Update to their offering.

Patients with asthma require a continuum of preventive, acute, psychological, rehabilitative, education, and self-management interventions to meet their complex health and psychosocial needs. Deaths usually occur in asthma as a result of the lack of appreciation for the severity of an exacerbation, and inadequate prompt home emergency treatment.

Care by a pulmonary or allergy specialist for patients with mild to moderate as well as severe asthma has demonstrated improved outcomes. Improved outcomes related to specialist management (as measured by reduced hospitalizations and ER visits) appear due to the greater use of prophylactic medication and other strategies such as case management.

Continue reading " Asthma, the Most Common Chronic Childhood Illness, Affects about 10% of Children" »

February 16, 2007 — In children with intermittent asthma, a short course of montelukast resulted in reduction in acute healthcare resources, asthma symptoms, and days lost from school and from work for parents, according to the results of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial reported in the February 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine.

"In children, intermittent asthma is the most common pattern and is responsible for the majority of exacerbations," write Colin F. Robertson, MD, of the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues. "Montelukast has a rapid onset of action and may be effective if used intermittently."

Continue reading "Short-Course Montelukast Improves Outcomes for Intermittent Asthma in Children" »

AstraZeneca today announced that 37 countries to date have received approval of Symbicort® Maintenance And Reliever Therapy (Symbicort SMART®), and that a period of world wide launches will now be initiated. This new, smarter approach to asthma is the first to provide patients with both asthma maintenance and reliever therapy together in just one inhaler.

With the Symbicort SMART management approach, patients receive inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and long acting bronchodilator (LABA) with every inhalation. Thus, with Symbicort SMART it is possible to treat the underlying inflammation with every inhalation, even when used for rapid symptom relief, making it a more effective way to manage asthma. A separate SABA (short acting bronchodilator) inhaler is therefore no longer needed. Symbicort SMART has been proven to reduce exacerbations by 39% compared with salmeterol / fluticasone combination and a separate reliever medication.1

Continue reading "Astrazeneca Launches A Smarter Approach To Asthma Management In Europe" »

February 13, 2007 — Multiple label revisions for telithromycin (Ketek tablets, made by Sanofi-Aventis) include removal of its approval for 2 of its 3 indications, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The risks of telithromycin for the treatment of acute bacterial sinusitis and acute bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis have been found to outweigh the benefits, the FDA said in an alert sent yesterday from MedWatch, the FDA's safety information and adverse event reporting program.

Other label changes include a boxed warning stating that use of telithromycin is contraindicated in patients with myasthenia gravis, and a strengthened warning section regarding the risk for adverse events such as visual disturbances and loss of consciousness; the risk for hepatotoxicity was previously emphasized in June 2006.

Continue reading "FDA: New Limits to Ketek Use" »

A new technique for preserving grapes for mass-market wine may prevent the drink causing allergies, a study says.

Spanish researchers found using ozone to keep grapes fresh for wine was 90% as effective as sulphur dioxide, which is currently used by producers.

Sulphur dioxide is often linked to allergies such as asthma and migraines, the journal Chemical and Industry said.

But experts said there were other properties in wine that could trigger allergic reactions.

Continue reading "Allergy hope over wine preserver" »

Asthmatics are more likely than other Australians to be obese and suffer other long-term health conditions, a new study says.

Australian researchers have found more than one in five asthma patients are obese, and fewer than half had a normal body mass index.

Only about 38 per cent of middle aged asthmatics had a normal body mass index.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report concluded people with asthma aged 18 to 64 were more likely to be obese than those who had never had asthma, but could not identify the reason.

Continue reading "Link found between asthma and obesity" »

Researchers have long noted that many asthma sufferers also have atopic dermatitis — often called eczema — a chronic disease of the skin that can leave it red, raw, scaly, tender, oozy and excruciatingly itchy. But scientists are looking at whether such ravaging of the skin creates the conditions that can trigger asthma.

Last spring in the journal Nature Genetics, British scientists reported that people who suffer from both eczema and asthma carry the same gene mutation and concluded that eczema may actually lead to asthma in some cases.

Until now, it had largely been assumed that dander, dust mites, pollen and other allergens that can cause asthma enter the body through the respiratory system. But the researchers said they now believe that they can also enter the body through tiny breaks in the skin’s surface — something that occurs in patients with eczema.

Continue reading "Cracked Skin Could Be Path to Asthma" »

Background: Maternal diet during pregnancy might be one of the factors that influences fetal immune responses associated with childhood allergy.

Objective: We analyzed the association between maternal diet during the last 4 wk of pregnancy and allergic sensitization and eczema in the offspring at 2 y of age.

Design: Data from 2641 children at 2 y of age were analyzed within a German prospective birth cohort study (LISA). Maternal diet during the last 4 wk of pregnancy was assessed with a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire, which was administered shortly after childbirth.

Continue reading "Maternal diet during pregnancy in relation to eczema and allergic sensitization in the offspring at 2 y of age" »