Inner-city asthma: special considerations for management

Influence of the environment on the characteristics of asthma

Few studies have compared the prevalence of asthma in urban and rural settings or explored the issue of whether these two manifestations of the disease may represent different phenotypes. The aim of this study was: (a) to establish whether the prevalence of asthma differs between rural and urban settings, and b) to identify differences in the clinical presentation of asthma in these two environments. Descriptive epidemiological study involving individuals aged 18 or over from a rural (n = 516) and an urban population (n = 522). In the first phase, individuals were contacted by letter in order to organize the administration of a first validated questionnaire (Q1) designed to establish the possible prevalence of bronchial asthma. In the second phase, patients who had presented association patterns in the set of variables related to asthma in Q1 completed a second validated questionnaire (Q2), designed to identify the characteristics of asthma. According to Q1, the prevalence of asthma was 15% (n = 78) and 11% (n = 59) in rural and urban populations respectively. Sixty-five individuals with asthma from the rural population and all 59 individuals from the urban population were contacted and administered the Q2. Thirty-seven per cent of the individuals surveyed had previously been diagnosed with bronchial asthma (35% in the rural population and 40% in the urban setting). In the urban asthmatic population there was a predominance of women, a greater personal history of allergic rhinitis and a family history of allergic rhinitis and/or eczema. Asthma was diagnosed in adulthood in 74.8% of the patients, with no significant differences between the two populations. Regarding symptoms, cough (morning, daytime and night) and expectoration were more frequent in the urban population. The prevalence of asthma does not differ between urban and rural settings. The differences in exposure that characterize each environment may lead to different manifestations of the disease and may also affect its severity.

Comparing effectiveness and outcomes in asthma and cystic fibrosis

As technology yields new treatments, pediatric pulmonologists need determine how best to use them and how to decide which ones are best for any specific group or individual patient. Physicians have always customized therapies based upon patient response, but the new concept of "Personalized (or precision) medicine" focuses attention to a greater degree on the individual needs of patients based on their genetic, biomarker, phenotypic, or psychosocial characteristics. The newly developed biologics for treatment of asthma and CFTR modulators for treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) highlight this newer approach. As we have more treatments available, new approaches to testing efficacy and effectiveness of these new therapies is necessary in order to efficiently bring them to market and compare their benefits in real world practice. While comparative effectiveness can be tested in pragmatic clinic trials, the most common approaches make use of observational data such as administrative databases and patient registries but their use for this is fraught with pitfalls that may or may not be methodologically surmountable. Once new therapies have been shown to be efficacious and effective, it is important to be cognizant of methods for ensuring that all patients actually receive the treatments that will be best for them. Comparisons of the effectiveness of clinical practice in the form of benchmarking is helpful for this, and consideration of costs and cost-effectiveness is essential to judging the best treatment for patients in a real-world setting.

How to manage a child with difficult asthma?

INTRODUCTION

Children with difficult asthma have significant morbidity and fail to achieve asthma control despite being prescribed high dose maintenance treatment. If control remains poor after diagnostic confirmation, detailed assessments of the reasons for asthma being difficult-to-control are needed. Underlying modifiable factors including non-adherence to medication, persistent environmental exposures that trigger asthma symptoms and psychosocial factors contribute to poor control in these patients.

AREAS COVERED

The focus of this review is to provide a practical approach to the diagnosis and management of difficult asthma including an overview of long term assessments to identify potential progression to true, severe asthma. A multi-disciplinary team is critical to enable modifiable factors to be identified and addressed. Significant resources are required to manage paediatric difficult asthma optimally and only specialist centres should be tasked with the assessment of these patients. Although this may have an impact on healthcare resources, long term benefits for lung health are significant. Expert commentary: The management of paediatric difficult asthma is not simple and involves numerous professionals with varied expertise. However, if it is not undertaken with the appropriate skills, there is a significant risk of children receiving inappropriate invasive investigations and therapies that will have no impact on morbidity.