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Allergy Specialist Treatment Reduces Asthma Hospitalizations |
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Asthma sufferers who regularly use inhaled corticosteroids and are under the care of an allergy specialist are less likely to need emergency hospital care for their disease, according to a study in the March 2003 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI).
The JACI study is the largest of its kind to show the importance of an allergy specialist in the treatment of asthma. It is the first to explore the relationship between allergy specialty care, the dispensing of inhaled corticosteroids (IC), and the reduction of asthma related emergency department visits. Both adequate IC therapy (at least 4 canisters per year) and allergy specialty care are effective in preventing emergency hospital care for asthma. They have independent and additive effects in reducing emergency room visits for asthma.
Michael Schatz, MD, MS, FAAAAI, Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center, San Diego, and colleagues analyzed 9,608 asthma patients, ages 3-64 years, selected from the Southern California Kaiser-Permanente Asthma Case Identification Database. Inhaled steroid use and allergist care in 1999 were evaluated for their relationship to year 2000 emergency hospital care, while controlling for other severity and treatment parameters.
Key Study Findings
After analyzing the patients across the time points, researchers found:
- Allergy specialty care resulted in a 27 percent reduction in emergency hospital care for asthma.
- Patients using four or more canisters/year of IC required significantly less emergency hospital care for asthma, and those using seven or more were even less likely to require emergency care for asthma.
- Patients receiving allergy specialty care were more likely to use seven or more canisters/year of IC.
- Patients receiving allergy specialty care and using seven or more canisters/year of IC had a greater reduction in emergency hospital care for asthma.
Medication Important
Inhaled corticosteroids are recognized as the medications of choice for the treatment of chronic, persistent asthma by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). They are effective in reducing airway inflammation, hypersensitivity, swelling and mucous production. Previous findings show that using six or more canisters of IC a year reduces death caused by asthma.
The study also confirmed prior reports suggesting that allergy specialty care is effective in preventing emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma. The study showed that increased prescribing of inhaled corticosteroids is an important component of the effect of allergist care on reducing emergency hospital care.
Care Reduces Asthma
The findings from the study also suggested that other aspects of allergy specialist care, such as patient education, environmental control, use of other medications and immunotherapy probably contributed to a reduction in emergency hospital care as well.
Asthma is a chronic disease that affects more than 17 million people in the United States, accounting for $2.6 billion in hospitalizations and emergency room visits. The JACI study confirmed and extended previous findings showing that allergy specialty care reduces asthma hospitalizations, improves quality of life and reduces costs.
AAAAI News Release |
