Children with severe asthma may not need such frequent courses of oral steroids if their illness is monitored and managed differently, according to preliminary findings of British Lung Foundation research revealed today, to mark national Breathe Easy Week
Early results of the research show that the number of rescue courses of oral steroids could be reduced by a third.
Airway inflammation is a fundamental characteristic of asthma, but current monitoring consists only of lung function testing, which does not measure airway inflammation. BLF researchers at Imperial College found that testing the phlegm, fluid and gases breathed out by children with severe asthma was a simple and effective way of monitoring inflammation. The tests could easily be introduced into routine clinical practice and help clinicians manage asthma more effectively.
“Our early results show that by monitoring airway inflammation in children with severe asthma we can potentially help to reduce their number of exacerbations thus reducing the courses of oral steroids they need”, says British Lung Foundation researcher Professor Andrew Bush. “It’s a much more efficient way of making sure children with severe asthma get the treatment they need.”
“We are delighted with the preliminary findings of this research,” says Dame Helena Shovelton, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation. “More targeted treatment is good news for children with severe asthma.”
The British Lung Foundation study involved 55 children aged between 7 and 17 years over a period of 3 years. It was funded by the British Lung Foundation and carried out by a team of researchers led by Professor Andrew Bush at the Department of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Brompton and Harefield Trust and the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London.
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