Media Availability: Inhaled Steroids Best
Treatment for Children with Asthma
Although several medications are available to help children maintain
asthma control, clinical trials directly comparing them have not
been conducted. In fact, current recommendations in national and
international asthma guidelines are based either on studies of single
treatments compared to a placebo in children or on comparison studies
in adults.
For the first time, researchers compared the effectiveness and
safety of three different asthma medicines for initial daily therapy
for school-aged children with mild to moderate persistent asthma:
a low dose inhaled corticosteroid (200 mcg fluticasone a day); a
combination of a lower dose inhaled corticosteroid and an inhaled
long acting beta2 agonist (100 mcg fluticasone each morning plus
50mcg salmeterol twice daily), and a leukotriene receptor antagonist
(montelukast). Studying 285 children ages 6 - 14 years, researchers
in the Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network of the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) found that after 48 weeks,
inhaled corticosteroids are the most effective initial daily therapy
for children with mild to moderate persistent asthma. They also
found no significant adverse growth effects among any of the medicines
studied.
"Long-term comparison of 3 controller regimens for mild-moderate
persistent childhood asthma: The Pediatric Asthma Controller Trial,"
is published in this month's issue of the Journal of
Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI). These results support
the current asthma clinical guidelines, which recommend inhaled
corticosteroids as the preferred initial therapy for children with
mild to moderate asthma.
The theme of the January issue of the journal is National Institutes
of Health asthma networks. The issue features review articles on
several NHLBI programs - the Asthma Clinical Research Network, the
Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network, the Childhood Asthma
Management Program, and the Severe Asthma Research Program - as
well as the Asthma and Allergic Diseases Research Centers and the
Inner City Asthma Consortium of the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
NHLBI spokespersons are available to comment on the above study
as well as on other findings in the journal. NIAID spokespersons
are available to comment on the NIAID-funded Asthma and Allergic
Diseases Research Centers and the Inner City Asthma Consortium.
To schedule interviews, contact the NHLBI Communications Office
at 301-496-4236 or the NIAID News and Public Information Branch
at 301-402-1663.
RESOURCES:
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports
research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders.
The Institute also administers national health education campaigns
on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other
topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online
at www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation's Medical
Research Agency - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary
federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and
translational medical research, and it investigates the causes,
treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more
information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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