Mold damage in homes and wheezing in infants

http://www.az-air.com/staticv644.asp

New GINA guidelines provide supportive statements for Symbicort SMART®
   
The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Scientific Committee announced the release of an updated version of their international treatment guidelines (Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention) and with them a change in the emphasis as to the recommended treatment approach for asthma. Announced update of the GINA guidelines provides supportive statements for a new management approach to asthma, Symbicort SMART®...



Lund, November 14, 2006: The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Scientific Committee announced the release of an updated version of their international treatment guidelines (Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention) and with them a change in the emphasis as to the recommended treatment approach for asthma.1 Announced update of the GINA guidelines provides supportive statements for a new management approach to asthma, Symbicort SMART®.
Despite effective treatments, a recent study showed that 74% of asthma patients in the real world are not well controlled and tend to over-rely on their short-acting bronchodilators (SABA), using them on a daily basis in response to a worsening of their asthma symptoms.2 However, short-acting bronchodilators, e.g. salbutamol and terbutaline, do not address the underlying inflammation nor do they contribute to asthma control, thus any approach that includes daily SABA use can be viewed as chasing and not preventing symptoms. Symbicort SMART is a new management approach that helps addressing this fundamental problem. AstraZeneca recently announced the successful completion of the Mutual Recognition Procedure in the EU for this new management approach.
Symbicort SMART is Symbicort used for both maintenance and relief in patients 18 years and older. With Symbicort SMART, the underlying inflammation is treated with every inhalation of both maintenance and reliever therapy, making it a more effective way to manage asthma compared to traditional therapy involving a short-acting bronchodilator. Symbicort SMART improves daily symptom control and reduces asthma attacks while patients only need one inhaler*. A separate short-acting bronchodilator is no longer needed.Patients prescribed Symbicort SMART, take a maintenance dose of Symbicort every day in line with normal practice to establish asthma control and take additional inhalations ‘as needed’ of Symbicort if symptoms occur, to provide both rapid symptom relief and increased asthma control.
Symbicort SMART has been tested in a wide clinical trial programme involving over 14,000 patients with mild to severe persistent asthma. The results of all studies indicate that Symbicort SMART improves overall asthma control and reduces the risk of patients developing potentially life-threatening asthma attacks significantly better than either fixed dosing with higher dose ICS alone, or with combination therapy plus a short-acting bronchodilator. 3,4,5,6,7,8
Current treatment decisions are typically based on the severity of the individual patient’s asthma and not their asthma control, which may vary within one individual over time. Of particular note in the new guidelines, therefore, is a change in focus from a severity-based recommendation, to one that focuses more on control of the individual patient’s asthma symptoms.
Dr Paul O'Byrne, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada and Chair of the GINA Executive Committee, commented, ’Previous editions of the GINA Guidelines have perhaps led to an impression that mild asthma could be equated to mild symptoms and severe asthma to severe symptoms, which we know is not the case. Asthma is a variable disease and the GINA Committee felt that a treatment approach based upon effective control of symptoms and exacerbations would better reflect the natural course of the disease. The result will be improved outcomes by allowing treatment to be rapidly stepped up when symptoms first appear and then brought back down again when control is achieved, and thus let the dosing respond quickly to the patients’ asthma control status.’
References
1.   Http://www.ginasthma.org
2.   MC Pulmonary Medicine: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpulmmed/
Partridge MR et al, BMC Pulmonary Medicine 2006, 6:13
3.   Kuna P, Peters MJ, Buhl R. Abstract presented at the ERS Congress 2006.
4.   Rabe K, Atienza T, Magyar P, Larsson P, Jorup C, Lalloo U.Lancet 2006;368: 744-53.
5.   Vogelmeier C, D'Urzo A, Pauwels R, Merino JM, Jaspal M, Boutet S, Naya I, Price D.Eur Respir J 2005; 26(5): 819-828.
6.   O’Byrne P, Bisgaard H, Godard P, Pistolesi M, Palmqvist M, Zhu Y, Ekström T, Bateman E. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2005; 171(2): 129-136.
7.   Scicchitano R, Aalbers R, Ukena D, Manjra A, Fouquert L, Centanni S, Boulet L-P, Naya IP, Hultquist C.Current Medical Research and Opinion 2004;20(9):1403-18.
8.   Klaus F.Rabe, Emilio Pizzichini, Björn Ställberg, Santiago Romero, Ana M. Balanzat, Tito Atienza, Per Arve Lier, and Carin Jorup. Chest, Feb 2006; 129: 246 - 256.