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Parent assessments
about child HRQL
reliable, study says.
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Older
patients
with asthma
cope better.
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April 12, 2006 |
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Distance
Learning |
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2005 ACAAI ANNUAL MEETING
• Symposia Online
Nov. 4-9, Anaheim
Link
2005 Board/Recertification Review Course:
DVDs, Audio CDs, MP3s
Link
ACAAI Tape Store
Complete Listing
Link
2004 ACAAI ANNUAL MEETING
• Symposia Online
Nov. 12-17, Boston
Link
2003 ACAAI ANNUAL MEETING
Nov. 7-12, 2003, New Orleans
• Two Symposia Online
Link
• Plenary Sessions CD-ROM and DVD
Link
Patient-Centered Allergy Practice
Endorsed by ACAAI, Sponsored by Physicians Practice
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Calendar |
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APRIL
ISAAI Lecture Schedule
Illinois Society of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
Marriott Chicago Downtown at Medical District
April 23
Tel: 847-427-9600
E-mail
MAY
ISAAI Lecture Schedule
Illinois Society of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
Marriott Chicago Downtown at Medical District
May 21
Tel: 847-427-9600
E-mail
JULY
24th Annual Aspen Allergy Conference
July
26-29, Aspen, Colo.
Contact: Kathleen Goldy
Tel: 303-282-0491
E-mail
Link
ONGOING
World Allergy Organization Society Meetings |
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Top
Stories |
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Parent reports accurate in children’s drug trials
Parental assessments are reliable sources of information
about a child's health-related quality of life (HRQL), in lieu
of children’s assessments, when they’re unable to complete the
assessments, according to a study in Cancer. Researchers
from St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.,
reviewed 199 children assessed either during or after cancer
treatment and 108 healthy children. In all cases, both the
children and their parents completed HRQL assessments. The
researchers found that in each of the 10 HRQL measures, parents
and children answered similarly. The correlation was most
consistent among families of children with cancer.
Older asthma patients cope with disease better
Older asthma patients may fare better than younger asthma
patients, according to a Missouri study in the Annals of
Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Researchers at Saint Louis
University examined data from a 3-year observational study of
more than 4,700 patients with severe asthma, comparing 566
patients, who were 65 or older, with 2,912 patients, who were 18
to 64 years old. The older group had significantly lower lung
function (FEV1) but significantly fewer unscheduled office
visits and emergency room visits than the younger patients.
Overall, they used health care resources less than the younger
patients. The older patients also used more inhaled
corticosteroids and reported better quality of life than the
younger patients.
Smoking in different room doesn’t
protect kids with asthma
Parents who merely move to a different room to smoke in the
home don’t protect asthmatic children much, according to a
study in Ambulatory Pediatrics. Researchers at the
University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center surveyed 231
parents of children with persistent and severe asthma. Almost
half of the children lived in a home with a smoker. Among all
the families, 64 percent enforced strict no-smoking rules in
both the home and car. Among families with smokers, only 40
percent had such rules. Children with severe asthma were no
more likely to live in a home with no smoking than children
with less severe asthma.
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 A word from guest writer, Nancy Sander, president,
AANMA
It was with enormous concern that I watched the April 6,
2006, NBC “Today Show” segment in which Katie Couric
interviewed Forbes journalist Robert Langreth
regarding his "Trouble Breathing" article about Advair. I
am the president and founder of Allergy & Asthma Network
Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA), a leading patient education
and advocacy organization since 1985. I also am a member
of the FDA advisory panel that reviewed issues relating to
Advair, as well as the 12-hour bronchodilators Serevent
and Foradil.
I believe the Forbes story is not grounded in
science and is likely to spark a feeding frenzy among
lawyers willing to victimize grieving families.
Furthermore, the story strikes fear in the hearts of
patients and their families, who now doubt the safety of
their medications, the prescribing decisions of their
physicians, and the integrity of the Food and Drug
Administration — all needlessly.
Asthma kills 13 people every day; one-third are diagnosed
with mild forms of the disease, one-third with moderate
and one-third with severe symptoms. Most asthma deaths are
preventable.
Of the deaths reported in the Forbes story, it is
not possible to pin cause and effect on Advair. Making
such a determination requires extensive investigation. On
the surface, it would appear that at least two deaths can
be attributed to using the wrong medication during an
acute episode. Such 12-hour bronchodilators are not
intended to halt an attack in progress.
In an attempt to understand why asthma deaths occur, the
Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics has spent
20 years studying patient and physician interactions and
have determined that communication gaps in the doctor's
office often leave patients unprepared to treat or prevent
asthma emergencies.
Barriers to care affecting all people with asthma
include:
• artificially imposed drug formularies, which prioritize
access to medications based on price
• restricted access to specialists and diagnostic testing
procedures
• lack of continuity of care
• too little time for meaningful communication necessary
for customizing care to individual patients
I am thankful that the Food and Drug Administration
requires post-marketing research and that pharmaceutical
manufacturers must comply with regulations. As a member of
the FDA advisory board representing the concerns of
patients with asthma and their families, I received
training to understand the complexities and
vulnerabilities of our existing drug approval and
monitoring process. For the most part, it works well. But
it is not perfect.
Because we receive numerous e-mail messages and phone
calls regarding Advair, Serevent and Foradil, AANMA staff
and medical editors, Drs. Michael Mellon and Stuart
Stolloff, wrote, "Twelve-Hour Bronchodilators: What
Patients Want To Know," published in the Winter 2006 issue
of AANMA's quarterly magazine, Allergy & Asthma Today.
ACAAI members are welcome to add to your Web pages a link
to the article, which is posted on AANMA's Web site, or
download and print copies of the article to provide your
patients:
http://www.aanma.org/news/news.asp?StoryId=580&CategoryId=1&sec=aanma
We are extremely concerned that the “Today Show” and
Forbes stories are more likely to cause harm than
good. It is important that we address the life-and-death
facts of 12-hour bronchodilators — not the hype.
The Forbes article is fraught with error. I believe
that it's irresponsible reporting. Of the 13 patients who
die from asthma today, how many will die because they
stopped taking their Advair after watching the “Today
Show” story?
Nancy Sander
President and Founder
Allergy & Asthma Network
Mothers of Asthmatics
nsander@aanma.org
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Come to Athens for the
ACAAI-HSACI meeting
The
Joint Allergy Symposium of the ACAAI and Hellenic
Society of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (HSACI), Sept. 6-9,
offers the opportunity to attend a state-of-the-art
scientific program, Allergy Update in Greece, while
visiting the enchanting city of Athens.
 This
international meeting brings together many of the finest
researchers and clinicians to present cutting-edge lectures
on the most important topics for the clinical practice of
allergy and immunology.
Plan to join your colleagues in Athens, one of the most
exciting cities in the world, the metropolis of wisdom,
philosophy and inspiration. The modern Athens Ledra Marriott
Hotel is the perfect venue for this meeting, with its
spacious conference center and view of the Acropolis. |
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Drugs
and Devices |
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FDA approves second drug to
prevent flu
The inhaled antiviral drug zanamivir (brand name Relenza)
has been approved to prevent influenza in adults and children 5
years and older, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced
recently.
Zanamivir is the second drug approved to both treat and prevent
flu, the FDA said in its statement. The agency warned that
people with asthma and other lung diseases shouldn't use Relenza,
as they may be at higher risk of developing a dangerous
bronchospasms. The drug is not a substitute for the flu vaccine.
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Association
News |
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NFID issues Call to Action
to increase immunization rates in children with asthma
The ACAAI joins more than 15 of the nation’s leading medical
and public health organizations in support of a Call to
Action issued by the National Foundation for Infectious
Diseases (NFID) to improve influenza vaccination rates in
children with asthma.
The Call to Action is part of a new NFID initiative to
explore barriers to immunization and identify strategies
that can help improve national vaccination rates among this
group. Despite long-standing Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) recommendations that call for annual
influenza vaccination among children with asthma, estimates
reveal only one-third of this high-risk population is
immunized.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
recently voted to expand annual influenza immunization
recommendations for all children 6 months to 5 years of age.
Along with healthy children aged 2 to 5 years, children in
this age group with chronic medical conditions — including
asthma — are at an increased risk for influenza-related
complications.
NFID’s Influenza and Children with Asthma initiative is made
possible by an unrestricted educational grant to the NFID
from sanofi pasteur.
Members in the spotlight
Dr. Stanislaus Ting from Las Cruces, N.M., received the
American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation’s 2006
Leadership Award, which provides medical students,
residents/fellows, young physicians and international
medical graduate physicians special training to develop
their skills as future leaders in organized medicine.
Recipients of the award demonstrate outstanding non-clinical
leadership skills in advocacy, community service and/or
education. The awards are presented in association with the
Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative.
Dr. Ting is the founder and medical director of St. Luke’s
Clinic, which has provided free medical care to thousands of
working poor and homeless in Las Cruces since 1991. He also
is involved in humanitarian projects in Mexico and Thailand.
He is a lifetime member of AMA and received the 2004 New
Mexico Medical Society Community Service Award. Dr. Ting
designed and published the first low-cost pragmatic asthma
tool known as MSAGR (Multi-colored Simplified Asthma
Guidelines Reminder) that has been disseminated globally for
clinicians in the trenches to improve their adherence to
asthma guidelines.
Have you written a new book? Have you won a prestigious
award? Are you doing something that ACAAI members would
really find interesting? Submit notable achievements and
read about those of your peers in ACAAI eNews. Please
e-mail member news notices to
joannfaber@acaai.org.
New initiative supports frontline workers
A new national initiative, Jobs to Careers: Promoting
Work-Based Learning for Quality Care, supports the needs
of workers delivering direct health care and services (such
as medical assistants, health educators and laboratory
technicians in Allergy-Immunology), their employers, and the
people they serve.
The initiative seeks to create lasting improvements in the
training and advancement of frontline workers, and test new
models of work-based rewards learning. Proposals for the
program — established by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(RWJF) in collaboration with The Hitachi Foundation — are
accepted through May 18, 2006.
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Fellows-in-Training |
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Immunology Review Corner
Welcome to the Board Review Corner, prepared by Dr. Karla R.
Davis, senior representative of ACAAI’s fellows-in-training (FITs)
to the Board of Regents. The Board Review Corner is your chance
to test your Board preparedness.
To refer to a previous Board Review Corner, click the “Archive”
link in the left column.
Immunology Review Corner: Chapter 66 of the 6th
edition of Middleton’s Allergy Principles and Practice,
edited by N. Franklin Adkinson, et al. Review questions were
written by Drs. Eric Chenworth, Mayo Clinic; Karla R. Davis,
Walter Reed Medical Center; Anne K. Ellis, McMaster University.
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Copyright
© 2006 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. All
rights reserved.
E-newsletter services provided by the medical editors at Ascend
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