Could Asthma Clinical Research Improve My Asthma?
Updated April 03, 2015.
Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Board.
Imagine that you are in your doctors office and say “Doc, what do you think about this study that … .”.
What do you think your doctor’s reaction might be? If you want to find out review these asthma clinical research studies and ask your doctor about one of them if you think it might apply to you. You might even print the section on a particular study and bring it to your doctor at a next visit.
The goal for interesting asthma research studies is to one day benefit you or lead to general improvements in asthma care or understanding issues such as the pathophysiology of asthma.
Weekly reports emailed to patients summarizing where and how often rescue inhalers were activated led to improved asthma control according to a study published on PLOS.
Propeller Health has novel monitoring technology that allows patients to record not only how frequently they are using their rescue medication, but where the inhaler is being activated. As a result, you may notice that you seem to use your rescue inhaler in a particular location. You can then avoid the location or try to determine what the trigger is and address it.
In the clinical study rescue medication use of 30 patients was monitored for 4 months using a device that is attached to the inhaler and records each actuation. Patients then received weekly email reports that provided maps and charts of rescue inhaler use. At the end of the study scores for the Asthma Control Test (ACT) improved, and 75% of participants had controlled asthma as measured by ACT score compared to 38% of patients at the beginning of the study.
Study participants reported increased awareness of both the frequency and pattern of their asthma symptoms. Patients also perceived better asthma control and increased their ability to communicate their asthma control to their physician.
“Today, many patients have inappropriately low expectations for their own disease control or are unaware that more can be done to prevent attacks and day-to-day symptoms. Others fail to voice concerns or to report troublesome symptoms,” said David Van Sickle, PhD, Asthmapolis CEO and developer of the monitoring technology, in a blog post on the Asthmapolis site. “This study has demonstrated that simple interventions that use objectively collected data from daily life can make self-management more compelling, play a valuable role in developing and reinforcing better habits and provide patients with valuable information to help guide management and achieve control of their disease.”
Does what you eat affect your asthma?
I get this question every so often in my office based practice and I am always amazed when reading medical journals at some new discoveries.
Scientists at the University of Lausanne examined lung inflammation in mice fed both high fiber and low fiber diets in a research study. Bacteria in the gut metabolize fiber and the byproduct is short chain fatty acids. Higher amounts of fiber in the diet led to higher levels of short-chain fatty acids and less inflammation in the lungs. Mice fed low fiber diets had lower levels of short-chain fatty acids and more inflammation.
While this study in mice is not enough to change you diet to improve your asthma, there are plenty of other reasons to increase fiber in your diet from being more regular to improving your cholesterol. I will keep an eye on the fiber and asthma connection.
RPL554 is an investigative medication that has the potential to acutely relieve bronchoconstriction as well as reducing inflammation. The drug is unique because current therapies that have dual actions are actually combining two drugs into one delivery device. This inhaled medication actually is a single molecule that has 2 actions. The medication inhibits 2 phosphodiesterases (PDE3 and PDE4) to relax smooth muscle and reduce inflammation. Several small studies demonstrated the research medication was safe and also improved objective measures like FEV1.
In a comment Dr. Wedzicha said “Further longer term studies of RPL554 are now eagerly awaited because this could be one of the most substantial advances for some time in the management of patients with chronic airway obstruction.”
Sources
Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Board.
Imagine that you are in your doctors office and say “Doc, what do you think about this study that … .”.
What do you think your doctor’s reaction might be? If you want to find out review these asthma clinical research studies and ask your doctor about one of them if you think it might apply to you. You might even print the section on a particular study and bring it to your doctor at a next visit.
The goal for interesting asthma research studies is to one day benefit you or lead to general improvements in asthma care or understanding issues such as the pathophysiology of asthma.
Remote Monitoring Improves Asthma Control
Weekly reports emailed to patients summarizing where and how often rescue inhalers were activated led to improved asthma control according to a study published on PLOS.
Propeller Health has novel monitoring technology that allows patients to record not only how frequently they are using their rescue medication, but where the inhaler is being activated. As a result, you may notice that you seem to use your rescue inhaler in a particular location. You can then avoid the location or try to determine what the trigger is and address it.
In the clinical study rescue medication use of 30 patients was monitored for 4 months using a device that is attached to the inhaler and records each actuation. Patients then received weekly email reports that provided maps and charts of rescue inhaler use. At the end of the study scores for the Asthma Control Test (ACT) improved, and 75% of participants had controlled asthma as measured by ACT score compared to 38% of patients at the beginning of the study.
Study participants reported increased awareness of both the frequency and pattern of their asthma symptoms. Patients also perceived better asthma control and increased their ability to communicate their asthma control to their physician.
“Today, many patients have inappropriately low expectations for their own disease control or are unaware that more can be done to prevent attacks and day-to-day symptoms. Others fail to voice concerns or to report troublesome symptoms,” said David Van Sickle, PhD, Asthmapolis CEO and developer of the monitoring technology, in a blog post on the Asthmapolis site. “This study has demonstrated that simple interventions that use objectively collected data from daily life can make self-management more compelling, play a valuable role in developing and reinforcing better habits and provide patients with valuable information to help guide management and achieve control of their disease.”
Fiber And Inflammation
Does what you eat affect your asthma?
I get this question every so often in my office based practice and I am always amazed when reading medical journals at some new discoveries.
Scientists at the University of Lausanne examined lung inflammation in mice fed both high fiber and low fiber diets in a research study. Bacteria in the gut metabolize fiber and the byproduct is short chain fatty acids. Higher amounts of fiber in the diet led to higher levels of short-chain fatty acids and less inflammation in the lungs. Mice fed low fiber diets had lower levels of short-chain fatty acids and more inflammation.
While this study in mice is not enough to change you diet to improve your asthma, there are plenty of other reasons to increase fiber in your diet from being more regular to improving your cholesterol. I will keep an eye on the fiber and asthma connection.
Single Drug Relieves Bronchoconstriction and Inflammation
RPL554 is an investigative medication that has the potential to acutely relieve bronchoconstriction as well as reducing inflammation. The drug is unique because current therapies that have dual actions are actually combining two drugs into one delivery device. This inhaled medication actually is a single molecule that has 2 actions. The medication inhibits 2 phosphodiesterases (PDE3 and PDE4) to relax smooth muscle and reduce inflammation. Several small studies demonstrated the research medication was safe and also improved objective measures like FEV1.
In a comment Dr. Wedzicha said “Further longer term studies of RPL554 are now eagerly awaited because this could be one of the most substantial advances for some time in the management of patients with chronic airway obstruction.”
Sources
- David Van Sickle mail, Sheryl Magzamen, Shaun Truelove, Teresa Morrison. Remote Monitoring of Inhaled Bronchodilator Use and Weekly Feedback about Asthma Management: An Open-Group, Short-Term Pilot Study of the Impact on Asthma Control. Published February 27, 2013. Accessed February 12, 2014.
- Trompette A, Gollwitzer ES. Yadava K, et al. Gut microbiota metabolism of dietary fiber influences allergic airway disease and hematopoiesis. Nature Medicine. Published online January 5 2014
- Franciosi LG, Diamant Z, KH et al. Efficacy and safety of RPL554, a dual PDE3 and PDE4 inhibitor, in healthy volunteers and in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: findings from four clinical trials. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Volume 1, Issue 9, Pages 714 - 727, November 2013. Accessed february 12, 2014.
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