Calendar and Updates

• Asthma Awareness Month
• Calendar
• Asthma Updates

ASTHMA AWARENESS MONTH

Check out these sites and activities for Asthma Awareness Month

• Visit the Environmental Protection Agency website for an asthma awareness month event planning kit.
• We want to hear from you about how we can improve this website-please take the AsthmaNow survey now.
• Attend the asthma-related conferences and activities occurring in May.
• Use Asthma Awareness Month as a time to find out more about allergies and other asthma triggers. Find out daily pollen counts and visit AsthmaNow resource pages.

CALENDAR

If you have an asthma related event coming up, and you would like it posted on this calendar, please send the date, place, time and contact information to Calendar & Updates

ASTHMA UPDATES

• HOME BASED ASTHMA MANAGEMENT: Asthma symptoms and hospital admissions decreased among children whose families participated in a specialized home-based asthma management program, researchers found. Families who used asthma related services through the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration Agency Plan during 2004 and 2005 found that just 26 percent of the children of these families had controlled asthma. A total of 110 families received usual care, which consisted of educational flyers explaining asthma medications and their use, as well as how to prevent environmental asthma triggers, and care for asthma equipment. Another 108 families completed the culturally tailored intervention that included 8 education sessions taught by asthma counselors and ongoing telephone consultations. This program addressed asthma practices and myths common among Puerto Rican parents, as well as proper use of asthma medications, equipment, home remedies, and asthma triggers specific to the island.
  
  Four months after study enrollment, the investigators found that children in the intervention group had a 6.5 percent increase in symptom-free nights, were 3 times more likely to have their asthma under control, were 37 percent less likely to have visited an emergency department, and were 68 percent less likely to be hospitalized for asthma compared with children who received usual care. Moreover, caregivers in the intervention group exhibited less frustration and greater confidence in their ability to manage their child's asthma than did caregivers in the usual care group. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, March 2008
• FDA INVESTIGATES SINGULAIR:The FDA said it is investigating a possible link between Merck's best selling Singulair and suicide. FDA said it is reviewing a handful of reports involving mood changes, suicidal behavior and suicide in patients who have taken the popular allergy and asthma drug. Merck has updated the drug's labeling four times in the past year to include information on a range of reported side effects: tremors, anxiousness, depression and suicidal behavior. An FDA spokesperson said the review was prompted by three to four suicide reports it received since last October. It could take up to nine months before agency scientists can draw any conclusions, the FDA said.
• DUST MITE REMOVAL DOESN'T WORK: A comprehensive review of 54 dust-control strategy studies found that none was effective enough in reducing exposure to dust mites that it would improve one's asthma. The methods looked at included using chemicals to kill the mites, encasing mattresses and pillows in mite-proof covers, frequently washing linens in hot water or bleach, and even getting rid of toys, plants and furniture out of a home. "We can conclude with confidence that there is no need to buy expensive vacuum cleaners or mattress covers or to use chemical methods against house dust mites, because these treatments do not work," study author Peter Gotzsche, director of The Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, said in a prepared statement. "If you are wondering why it is that mattress covers and the other strategies are not effective, the likely answer is that all these treatments do not have a large enough effect on the occurrence of allergens from house dust mites," Gotzsche said. "The level of allergens is so high in most homes that what remains after the treatment is still high enough to cause asthma attacks."
  
  The review, Gotzsche said, shows people are being mislead by the 2007 U.S. guidelines from the National Asthma Education and Prevention program. "Reviews and guidelines should reflect the facts," he said. "It is difficult, perhaps, to realize that we cannot really do anything, but there is no evidence to support these guidelines, and they are misleading. It is about time specialists start becoming honest with patients." The Cochrane Library
• GENE RAISES ASTHMA RISK: Researchers studying an isolated community of farmers have identified a new gene linked with asthma and said it might be used both to diagnose the condition and perhaps to treat it. Variations in the gene, known as CHI3L1, can either promote or protect against asthma. The findings could help lead to new drugs to treat asthma. New England Journal of Medicine 4/9/08

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