Course Of Oral Corticosteroids Research Articles

281. Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis Diagnosed with Broad-Range PCR Testing after Exposure to Battarrea Mushroom Spores

Background Battarrea puffball mushrooms are found extensively worldwide and contain spore-containing sacs. Inhalation of the spores of similar mushrooms, such as Lycoperdon, have been implicated in cases of lycoperdonosis—a syndrome of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. We report a case of hypersensitivity pneumonitis confirmed to be secondary to Battarrea spore exposure diagnosed by broad-range PCR.MethodsA 23-year-old homeless man with a history of methamphetamine use presented to the emergency department with a 2-week history of fevers, chills, productive cough, and malaise. He reported his symptoms began soon after eating a long-stemmed mushroom he found growing next to a building. He reported inhaling particles from the mushroom when he picked it up prior to eating it. He vomited within 1 hour of ingestion, and then had a worsening progression of cough and malaise over the following 2 weeks. In the emergency department, he was noted to have leukocytosis and mild elevation of transaminases. He required supplemental oxygen due to hypoxemia. CT scan of his chest demonstrated extensive bilateral nodular pulmonary infiltrates. He was admitted and started on treatment for community-acquired pneumonia. Over the next several days, he had worsening respiratory failure, and routine work up for infectious etiologies was unrevealing. To further investigate, bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed and routine bacterial, fungal and mycobacterial cultures and cytology with Gomori Methanamine-silver and acid-fast stains were negative. BAL fluid was sent for broad range DNA testing by PCR. Antibiotic therapy was stopped, and he was started on steroids to treat presumed hypersensitivity pneumonitis. He recovered rapidly and was discharged on a course of oral corticosteroids.ResultsAfter the patient was discharged, molecular testing of BAL fluid resulted with detection of Battarrea species DNA using 28s and ITS primer sets. DNA from no other pathogens was detected.ConclusionIdentified through broad range DNA PCR testing, exposure to Battarrea mushroom spores may be a previously unreported cause of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. PCR testing should be considered in the workup of hypersensitivity pneumonitis with known or suspected exposure to mushroom spores. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Efficacy of bronchial thermoplasty in patients with severe asthma

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of bronchial thermoplasty (BT) in clinical practice in adults with severe, refractory asthma.Methods: Prospective, single-center, open, observational study comprising patients with uncontrolled asthma (asthma control questionnaire (ACQ) >1.5) and/or frequent exacerbations despite treatment with at least high dose inhaled corticosteroids plus a second controller. Efficacy outcomes was change from baseline 4, 8, 12 and 24 months in FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC ratio, asthma control questionnaire (ACQ) score and asthma quality of life score (mini-AQLQ). Results are presented as median with interquartile ranges (IQR). The following were recorded as adverse events: Un-scheduled health care contacts, rescue courses of oral corticosteroid (OCS) and/or antibiotics for exacerbation for exacerbations/respiratory tract infections (RTI).Results: Six-teen patients were enrolled (nine males, median age 50 years; 14 followed for 24 months). Compared to baseline, an improvement in FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC ratio, mini-AQLQ and ACQ was observed, i.e.FEV1 (IQR) 1.98 L (1.65-2.45) vs. 2.45 L (2.09-2.93) (p = 0.006), FVC (IQR) 3.23 L (2.76-4.05) vs. 3.75 L (3.22-4.36) (p = 0.041), FEV1/FVC 0.60 (IQR: 0.55-0.70) vs. 0.66 (IQR: 0.63-0.71) (p = 0.016), mini-AQLQ 4.0 (IQR: 3.2-4.9) vs. 5.6 (IQR 4.5-6.5) (p = 0.008, and ACQ 2.9 (IQR: 2.1-3.7) versus 1.5 (IQR 1.0-2.4) (p = 0.004). On the other hand, an increase was observed in unscheduled visits (p = 0.005), as well as use of OCS and antibiotics (p = 0.009 and p = 0.003, respectively).Conclusion: BT in adults with severe asthma improved ACQ, mini-AQLQ and lung function, but resulted in an increased frequency of unscheduled doctor-visits and rescue courses of OCS and antibiotics.

Inadequate specialist care referrals for high-risk asthma patients in the UK: an adult population-based cohort 2006–2017

Objective To improve asthma morbidity and mortality in the UK, national asthma guidelines recommend referral to \\ specialist care for the following high-risk groups, after a hospital admission for asthma, ≥3 courses of oral corticosteroids (OCS) in 12 months, an incident high-dose inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) prescription or addition of a fourth asthma drug to a patient’s maintenance regimen. We sought to assess the prevalence and temporal change of referrals to identify unmet needs. Methods We used UK electronic healthcare records, 2006–2017, to identify high-risk asthma patients managed within primary care. Referrals to respiratory clinics in secondary care were measured, within 3 months before or 6 months after, an incident ICS, third OCS in a year, or fourth asthma drug; or 12 months after a hospital admission for asthma. A nested case-control and conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate factors associated with receiving a referral. Results A total of 246,116 asthma patients were eligible. There was a slight increase in secondary care referrals from 2014 onwards but the percentage remained low with <20% in each high-risk group referred for specialist care. The factors in the past year that were most strongly associated with receiving a referral were a hospital admission or A&E visit for asthma, ≥3 OCS courses, ≥2 add-on drugs, or high-dose ICS prescription. Conclusions The majority of high-risk asthma patients were not referred for specialist care, as recommended by national guidelines. Compared to other risk factors, those admitted to hospital were most likely to receive a referral.

Does maintenance azithromycin reduce asthma exacerbations? An individual participant data meta-analysis.

Preventing exacerbations is an important goal of asthma treatment. Long-term treatment with azithromycin may help achieve this. Our aim was to conduct a systematic review and individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of azithromycin in reducing exacerbations in asthma, and in the subphenotypes of noneosinophilic asthma, eosinophilic asthma and severe asthma. We completed a systematic search of Embase, MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov and reference lists of previous systematic reviews in February 2019. We included parallel-group, double-blind, randomised controlled trials in adults comparing at least 8 weeks of azithromycin treatment with placebo, where the outcome of exacerbations was assessed over at least 6 months. Data were extracted from published sources, Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was applied and IPD were sought from authors. Reviews were undertaken in duplicate. We conducted an IPD meta-analysis on the primary outcome of exacerbations and a random effects meta-analysis for secondary outcomes. Three studies were identified (n=604). In the IPD meta-analysis, treatment with azithromycin was associated with a reduced rate of exacerbations (oral corticosteroid course due to worsening asthma, antibiotic use for lower respiratory tract infection, hospitalisation and/or emergency department visits) in asthma as well as in the noneosinophilic, eosinophilic and severe asthma subgroups. Examining each exacerbation type separately, patients with eosinophilic asthma reported fewer oral corticosteroid courses, and patients with noneosinophilic and severe asthma reported fewer antibiotic courses. Azithromycin was well tolerated. Maintenance use of azithromycin reduces exacerbations in patients with eosinophilic, noneosinophilic and severe asthma.

Comparative effectiveness of triple therapy versus dual bronchodilation in COPD.

This real-world study compared the effectiveness of triple therapy (TT; long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMAs)/long-acting inhaled β-agonists (LABAs)/inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs)) versus dual bronchodilation (DB; LAMAs/LABAs) among patients with frequently exacerbating COPD. A matched historical cohort study was conducted using United Kingdom primary care data. Patients with COPD aged ≥40 years with a history of smoking were included if they initiated TT or DB from no maintenance/LAMA therapy and had two or more exacerbations in the preceding year. The primary outcome was time to first COPD exacerbation. Secondary outcomes included time to treatment failure, first acute respiratory event, and first acute oral corticosteroid (OCS) course. Potential treatment effect modifiers were investigated. In 1647 matched patients, initiation of TT reduced exacerbation risk (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.87, 95% CI 0.76–0.99), risk of acute respiratory event (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.66–0.84) and treatment failure (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.73–0.95) compared with DB. Risk reduction for acute respiratory events was greater for patients with higher rates of previous exacerbations. At baseline blood eosinophil counts (BECs) ≥ 0.35×109 cells·L−1, TT was associated with lower risk of OCS prescriptions than DB. This study provides real-life evidence of TT being more effective in reducing exacerbation risk than DB, which became more accentuated with increasing BEC and previous exacerbation rate.

Poorly Controlled Asthma During Pregnancy Remains Common in the United States

Asthma is among the most common preexisting medical conditions in pregnancy. Uncontrolled asthma may increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. To describe the prevalence, severity, and control of asthma during pregnancy in the United States. We identified 2 cohorts of pregnancies ending in a live birth within 2 large US health care claims databases: the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database (MarketScan, private insurance) for the period 2011 to 2015 and the nationwide Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX, public insurance) for the period 2000 to 2013. We defined asthma prevalence, severity, and control on the basis of International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision diagnoses and asthma-related treatments. Severe asthma was defined as dispensing of 1 or more medium/high-dose inhaled corticosteroid plus additional therapy within the 12 months preceding delivery. Poor control was defined as having at least 1 of the following: 1 or more exacerbation (asthma-related hospitalization or emergency room visit, or a course of oral corticosteroids) or 5 or more filled prescriptions for short-acting β-agonists between the last menstrual period and delivery. Among 604,420 pregnant women in MarketScan and 2,071,359 in MAX, 20,104 (3.3%) and 120,745 (5.8%) had asthma, respectively. Among pregnant women with asthma, 19.0% and 18.8% had severe asthma and 16.5% and 28.0% had poorly controlled asthma in MarketScan and MAX, respectively. Many women with poorly controlled asthma during pregnancy were not dispensed a long-term controller (38.4% in MarketScan and 43.3% in MAX). Within both cohorts, women with poor control were more often smokers and obese, had more comorbidities, and used more concomitant nonasthma medications. Poorly controlled asthma is more frequent among publicly versus privately insured pregnancies in the United States. Dispensing of long-term controller medications during pregnancy remains low, even for symptomatic patients.

Polymorphous Light Eruption: a Review

To update readers on the current understandings of polymorphous light eruption (PMLE) in regard to epidemiology, clinical findings, pathophysiology, treatment, and prognosis. PMLE is known to be the most common photodermatosis seen in individuals with light skin types; however, recent evidence shows that it is also commonly observed in individuals with skin of color. Resistance to UV-induced immunosuppression is now known to be an essential part of pathogenesis; this could be secondary to unique cytokine or antimicrobial peptide expressions in these patients. Photohardening, done at the onset of sunny season for patients living in temperate climate, is a commonly used and effective management. PMLE is the most common photodermatosis. Lesions occur within hours after sun exposure, varying from urticarial papules, pinhead papules, to vesicles; they resolve in days to weeks without scarring. Resistance to UV-induced immunosuppression is thought to be an important contributor to the pathophysiology. Management includes photoprotection and photohardening. A 7–10-day course of oral corticosteroids is an appropriate prophylaxis for patients who plan to go to sunny locale for vacation. Though PMLE is chronic, many patients show improvement over years.

Idiopathic anaphylaxis.

Idiopathic anaphylaxis (IA) or spontaneous anaphylaxis is a diagnosis of exclusion when no cause can be identified. The exact incidence and prevalence of IA are not known. The clinical manifestations of IA are similar to other known causes of anaphylaxis. A typical attack is usually acute in onset and can worsen over minutes to a few hours. The pathophysiology of IA has not yet been fully elucidated, although an IgE-mediated pathway by hitherto unidentified trigger/s might be the main underlying mechanism. Elevated concentrations of urinary histamine and its metabolite, methylimidazole acetic acid, plasma histamine and serum tryptase have been reported, consistent with mast cell activation. There is some evidence that corticosteroids reduce the frequency and severity of episodes of IA, consistent with a steroid-responsive condition. Important differential diagnoses of IA include galactose alpha-1,3 galactose (a carbohydrate contained in red meat) allergy, pigeon tick bite (Argax reflexus), wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis, Anisakis simplex allergy and mast cell disorders. Other differential diagnoses include "allergy-mimics" such as asthma masquerading as anaphylaxis, undifferentiated somatoform disorder, panic attacks, globus hystericus, vocal cord dysfunction, scombroid poisoning, vasoactive amine intolerance, carcinoid syndrome and phaeochromocytoma. Acute treatment of IA is the same as for other forms of anaphylaxis. Long-term management is individualized and dictated by frequency and severity of symptoms and involves treatment with H1 and H2 receptor blockers, leukotriene receptor antagonist and consideration for prolonged reducing courses of oral corticosteroids. Patients should possess an epinephrine autoinjector with an anaphylaxis self-management plan. There are anecdotal reports regarding the use of omalizumab. For reasons that remain unclear, the prognosis of IA is generally favourable with appropriate treatment and patient education. If remission cannot be achieved, the diagnosis should be reconsidered.

Real-life effectiveness of inhaler device switch from dry powder inhalers to pressurized metred-dose inhalers in patients with asthma treated with ICS/LABA.

Mixed inhaler device use for asthma is associated with worse inhaler technique and outcomes. Given that relievers are commonly prescribed as pressurized metred-dose inhalers (pMDI), changing preventers from dry powder inhalers (DPI) to pMDI may improve asthma outcomes. This study aimed to assess the persistence and effectiveness of switching from DPI to pMDI for inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting β2 -agonist combination therapy (ICS/LABA). This was a historical cohort study using Ajou University Hospital (Korea) patient records. Persistence of switch was defined as receiving ≥1 pMDI and no DPI after the switch. Effectiveness of switch was assessed as the proportion without severe asthma exacerbation and the proportion achieving risk domain asthma control (RDAC; no asthma-related hospitalization, antibiotics without upper respiratory diagnosis or acute course of oral corticosteroids) and overall asthma control (OAC; RDAC and ≤ 200 μg salbutamol/≤500 μg terbutaline average daily dose) comparing 1 year after and before the switch. Within 85 patients who switched from DPI to pMDI and persisted for a year, higher proportion were free from asthma exacerbation after the switch (mean difference in proportion = 0.129, 95% CI: 0.038-0.220). Switching to pMDI was also associated with better RDAC (75.3% vs 57.7%, P = 0.001) and OAC (57.7% vs 45.9%, P = 0.021). From the entire 117 patients who switched to fixed-dose combination (FDC)/ICS LABA pMDI, 76.1% (95% CI: 69.0-100.0%) patients persisted in the following 6 months. Switching to and persisting with pMDI was associated with decreased asthma exacerbations and improved asthma control. The majority of patients persisted with the switch to pMDI for ICS/LABA treatment.

The role of doxycycline in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

Many theories on the pathophysiology of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) exist. The most effective management of CRSwNP has not been elucidated. Doxycycline, which has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, has shown durable effects; however, its efficacy in combination with standard therapy has not been examined. We hypothesized that its addition to the standard anti-inflammatory regimen would improve patient outcomes. We performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial at a tertiary level institution. Patients with moderate or severe CRSwNP were randomized into two groups, each receiving a 20-day course of oral corticosteroids and doxycycline or placebo. The 22-item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22), nasal polyp scores, and visual analog scale (VAS) scores were recorded at the initial, 3-, 8- and 12-week visits. 49 patients were enrolled, 24 in the experimental and 25 in the placebo group with 3 moderate disease patients in each group. There were 12 dropouts in the treatment group and 14 in the placebo group. The most common reasons for dropout were severe CRS and asthma exacerbations. There was no significant difference in SNOT-22 scores, nasal polyp scores, and VAS scores between the two arms. Non-surgical management of patients with CRSwNP remains challenging. Our conclusions are limited given the high dropout rate and thus, limited sample size with inadequate power. This study is important, however, because a high dropout rate of mostly severe disease patients may illustrate that this patient population may not be optimally managed with medical therapy alone.

COPD exacerbations: the impact of long versus short courses of oral corticosteroids on mortality and pneumonia: nationwide data on 67 000 patients with COPD followed for 12 months

IntroductionA large group of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are exposed to an overload of oral corticosteroids (OCS) due to repeated exacerbations. This is associated with potential serious...

Challenges in assessing the efficacy of systemic corticosteroids for severe wheezing episodes in preschool children

Summary This letter addresses the controversial issue of the use of oral corticosteroids during wheezing exacerbations in preschool-aged children by demonstrating findings of a prematurely terminated multi-center clinical trial, discussing lessons learned, and suggesting future directions.

Widespread subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus in a patient receiving checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy with ipilimumab and nivolumab

Checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy, including ipilimumab and nivolumab, is associated with numerous immune-related adverse events including dermatitis, pruritus, hepatitis, diarrhea, and hypophysitis. As the number of patients undergoing immunotherapy treatment increases, however, rare and unusual immune-related adverse events are observed. Many of these resemble known autoimmune phenomenon, such as subacute lupus erythematosus and myositis. Herein, we report a patient with metastatic serous ovarian carcinoma undergoing treatment with combination ipilimumab and nivolumab who developed subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (SCLE). Recent case reports have documented SCLE as a novel immune-related adverse event. In our case, she was able to successfully restart immunotherapy after a course of oral corticosteroids and maintenance oral hydroxychloroquine and topical corticosteroid therapy.

Direct Observed Therapy of Inhaled Corticosteroids for Asthma at School or Daycare.

Background: Poor adherence with inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) medication is common in the pediatric population and can result in poor asthma control with increased frequency of asthma-related complications. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the initiation of ICS administration twice per day at school/daycare in patients with poor medication adherence at home improves asthma health care outcomes. Methods: We retrospectively selected patients followed by our Pediatric Pulmonology Clinic who had poorly controlled asthma and had been assigned to receive ICS twice daily at school/daycare due to poor adherence with ICS therapy. We analyzed the number of short courses of oral corticosteroids, hospital admissions, emergency department visits, and intramuscular methylprednisolone administrations for asthma exacerbations for the year before and after the intervention. The Wilcoxon signed rank test with continuity correction was used in the primary analysis. Results: Forty-nine patients who met the inclusion criteria were identified, but only 40 actually started the intervention. The number of oral corticosteroid courses per year decreased from 1.35 ± 1.1 before the intervention to 0.68 ± 1.2 (P = 0.008) postintervention, hospital admissions per year decreased from 0.45 ± 0.7 to 0.10 ± 0.3 (P = 0.006), emergency department visits per year decreased from 0.55 ± 0.8 to 0.28 ± 0.6 (P = 0.084), and intramuscular repository methylprednisolone injections per year for asthma exacerbations decreased from 0.20 ± 0.4 to 0.10 ± 0.3 (P = 0.23). Conclusion: These results indicate that school/daycare administration of ICS may be an effective option to improve indicators of asthma exacerbations in children with poor adherence to ICS at home.

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY SEVERE ASTHMA CLINIC FOR PEDIATRIC PATIENTS: REVIEW OF THE FIRST 12 MONTHS EXPERIENCE

Introduction A combined pediatric Pulmonary Allergy Problematic Asthma (PAPA) clinic was developed to provide multidisciplinary care for children with severe/difficult-to-treat asthma, identified by PCP referral or a “high utilizer” label from the inpatient unit at the time of third hospitalization in 12-month time-frame at a tertiary care Pediatrics hospital. Methods Chart review of patients referred to the PAPA clinic May 2017-May 2018. Patient reported medication adherence was compared to pharmacist-confirmed prescription refills. Results Of 103 children referred to PAPA clinic, 42(40.8%) were seen. Of patients seen, 20(47.6%) were female, 30(71.4%) had ≥1 comorbid atopic disease; mean age was 7.1 years (range: 1.7-17 years). Mean age of asthma diagnosis was 1.8 years (range: 0.3-5 years) with 28(66.7%) diagnosed before 2 years. In the year prior to visit, patients had mean oral corticosteroid courses, ER visits and hospitalizations of 3.9(range:0-15), 2.7(range: 0-7), and 2.7(range:0-7), respectively. Lifetime parent-reported mean ER visits and hospitalizations were 8.1(range: 0-30), and 7.8(range: 0-80), respectively. Fifteen patients (35.7%) had history of asthma-related ICU admission of which 5(33.3%) required intubation. Patient reported adherence to inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) controller therapy (n=36, 85.7%) differed significantly from pharmacist-confirmed patient refills (n=14, 33.3%) over 3-month period (p Conclusions At baseline in PAPA clinic, patients commonly have comorbid atopy, long-standing asthma history, poor clinic attendance and non-adherence to controller medication. Initial data suggests that efforts to improve disease outcomes for pediatric patients with difficult-to-treat/severe asthma should focus on enhancing ability to attend healthcare maintenance visits and comply with prescribed ICS controller therapy. Figure 1. Pre-Clinic Visit Patient Reported Adherence vs Pharmacy-Confirmed Refills Over Three Month Period

Chronic rhinosinusitis control from the patient and physician perspectives.

ObjectivesThe concept of disease control incorporates independent disease characteristics that are longitudinally reflective of disease status and which can be used to make treatment decisions. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a chronic condition for which the determination of disease control by both the patient and the treating physician is important. Our objectives were to determine CRS disease characteristics that are associated with patient‐reported and physician‐rated CRS disease control.Study TypeCross‐sectional.MethodsA total of 209 participants were prospectively recruited. Participants were asked to rate their global level of CRS control as “not at all,” “a little,” “somewhat,” “very,” and “completely.” All participants completed a 22‐item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT‐22) and also reported the number of sinus infections, CRS‐related antibiotic courses taken, CRS‐related oral corticosteroid courses taken, and missed days of work or school due to CRS, all in the last 3 months. Clinical and demographic characteristics were also collected from each participant. A Lund‐Kennedy endoscopy score was calculated for each participant from nasal endoscopy. Two rhinologists were then given each participant's SNOT‐22 score (as well as SNOT‐22 nasal, sleep, otologic/facial pain, and emotional subdomain scores), endoscopy score, and the number of sinus infections, CRS‐related antibiotics, CRS‐related oral corticosteroid courses and missed days of work or school due to CRS in the preceding 3 months as reported by the patient. The two rhinologists were blinded to all other participant characteristics and each rhinologist independently rated every participant's global control level as “not at all,” “a little,” “somewhat,” “very,” and “completely.” Associations were sought between CRS disease characteristics (SNOT‐22 score, endoscopy score, sinus infections, CRS‐related antibiotic usage, CRS‐related oral corticosteroid usage, and lost productivity due to CRS) and patient‐reported CRS control as well as mean physician‐rated CRS control.ResultsPatient‐reported global CRS control was associated only with SNOT‐22 (adjusted relative risk [RR] = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.98–0.99, P < .001) but no other CRS disease characteristic. Patient‐reported CRS control was specifically associated only with nasal symptoms and not extra‐nasal symptoms of CRS. Physician‐rated CRS control was associated with SNOT‐22 score (adjusted RR [for each 1‐unit increase of SNOT‐22] = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.98–0.99, P < .001), number of acute bacterial CRS exacerbations—reflected by number of antibiotic courses taken (or sinus infections)—in the last 3 months (adjusted RR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.82–0.98, P = .014) and the number of CRS‐related oral corticosteroid courses taken in the last 3 months (adjusted RR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.78–0.97, P = .012). Nasal, sleep, and otologic/facial pain symptoms were all associated with physician‐rated CRS control. Having used at least one course of antibiotics or oral corticosteroids in the last 3 months was the optimal threshold for detecting poorly controlled CRS.ConclusionsPatients and physicians use different criteria to determine the level of CRS control. While both rely on the burden of CRS symptomatology, patients consider primarily nasal symptoms while physicians include nasal and extra‐nasal symptoms of CRS in determining CRS control. Physicians also independently consider CRS‐related antibiotic use, as a reflection of acute bacterial CRS exacerbations, and CRS‐related oral corticosteroid use in the determination of global CRS control.Level of Evidence2c.

Insights into frequent asthma exacerbations from a primary care perspective and the implications of UK National Review of Asthma Deaths recommendations

The United Kingdom National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) recommends that patients who require ≥3 courses of oral corticosteroids (OCS) for exacerbations in the past year or those on British Thoracic Society (BTS) Step 4/5 treatment must be referred to a specialist asthma service. The aim of the study was to identify the proportion of asthma patients in primary care that fulfil NRAD criteria for specialist referral and factors associated with frequent exacerbations. A total of 2639 adult asthma patients from 10 primary care practices in Glasgow, UK were retrospectively studied between 2014 and 2015. Frequent exacerbators and short-acting β2-agonist (SABA) over-users were identified if they received ≥2 confirmed OCS courses for asthma and ≥13 SABA inhalers in the past year, respectively. Community dispensing data were used to assess treatment adherence defined as taking ≥75% of prescribed inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) dose. The study population included 185 (7%) frequent exacerbators, 137 (5%) SABA over-users, and 319 (12%) patients on BTS Step 4/5 treatment. Among frequent exacerbators, 41% required BTS Step 4/5 treatment, 46% had suboptimal ICS adherence, 42% had not attended an asthma review in the past year and 42% had no previous input from a specialist asthma service. Older age, female gender, BTS Step 4/5, SABA over-use and co-existing COPD diagnosis increased the risk of frequent exacerbations independently. Fourteen per 100 asthma patients would fulfil the NRAD criteria for specialist referral. Better collaboration between primary and secondary care asthma services is needed to improve chronic asthma care.

Implementing Health Care Technology Research into Practice to Improve Adult Asthma Management

Use of health technology has shown potential to improve asthma adherence and outcomes. Few studies have looked at the implementation of such research within larger asthma populations. This report examines the process of translating results from a pragmatic trial using speech recognition (SR) in children with persistent asthma into the standard operating procedure within a large health maintenance organization. Medication adherence and outcomes in adults with asthma were examined. The SR protocol was implemented for the total Kaiser Permanente Colorado (KPCO) patient population of 480,142, of whom 36,356 had asthma. Patients had persistent asthma, filled 1 or more inhaled corticosteroid prescriptions in the prior 6 months, and remained continuously enrolled with KPCO for 2 years. Documented exacerbations included the presence of a hospitalization, emergency department visit, or course of oral corticosteroid where asthma was the principal diagnosis. Adherence and exacerbation events were compared 1 year before and 1 year after intervention for 4,510 adults aged 19 to64. Patient adherence demonstrated a small but significant improvement from 39.5% to 41.7% (P < .0001). Although not significant, data trends suggested greater improvement for patients with lower socioeconomic status. When an outlier month was removed from both the pre- and postintervention time periods, courses of oral corticosteroids decreased. Emergency department visits and hospitalizations were infrequent in both time periods and did not decrease over time. A low-cost SR intervention reminding patients to fill and take their daily controller asthma medication can improve treatment adherence and decrease the need for oral corticosteroids due to asthma exacerbations, but not decrease emergency department visits or hospitalizations.

Chronic rhinosinusitis exacerbations are differentially associated with lost productivity based on asthma status.

The frequency of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) exacerbations is an independent predictor of quality of life. The objective of this study was to evaluate if increased CRS exacerbations predict decreased productivity. Cross-sectional study of adult CRS patients. Number of patient-reported CRS-related antibiotic and oral corticosteroids courses and sinus infections in the past three months were used as metrics for acute exacerbations of CRS (AECRS). Productivity loss was measured by asking participants the number of lost days of work or school due to CRS in the past three months. Associations were sought between lost productivity and AECRS, controlling for clinical and demographic characteristics. 371 participants were recruited. 28.8% of study participants had comorbid asthma. The mean number of lost days of productivity due to CRS in the last three months was 1.5 for asthmatic participants and 2.4 for non-asthmatic participants. In asthmatics, CRS-related lost productivity was significantly associated with number of CRS-related antibiotics used (and oral corticosteroids used, with a trend for sinus infections. No AECRS metric was significantly associated with lost productivity in non-asthmatics. However, when focusing on non-asthmatics reporting missed days of work or school due to CRS, we found statistically significant associations between AECRS metrics and lost productivity. The frequency of AECRS is associated with CRS-related lost productivity in asthmatics and in the subset of non-asthmatics with moderate CRS-related productivity losses.

Intramuscular versus oral corticosteroids to reduce relapses following discharge from the emergency department for acute asthma.

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To examine the effectiveness and safety of intramuscular (IM) versus oral corticosteroids in the treatment of acute asthma after discharge from a hospital emergency department (ED) or equivalent acute care setting.