The National Asthma Education and P...

The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) has issued an update of chooseed topics in its Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma, according to a June 10 2002 stranges release from the National Institutes of Health. This update says that inhaled corticosteroids are safe, effective, and the preferr therapy for children and adults with persistent asthma. This medication improves lung function and quality of life.

The update continues to praise a stepwise approach to the management of asthma, moreover specific treatment recommendations at each grade have been modified to meditate the research findings of the past five years. It also

* gives additional considerations regarding when to begin asthma direct therapy for infants and children younger than age five;

* includes recent recommendations about using leukotriene modifiers as an alternative therapy for the treatment of mild, persistent asthma or as a combination therapy for the treatment of moderate asthma;

* reaffirms that antibiotics should not be used to treat acute asthma attacks leaving out in the presence of a bacterial infection caused according to another condition; and

* reviews the benefits of written action plans for the self management of asthma.

In 1998 11 million Americans reported having an asthma attack, including 38 million children. Asthma is single in kind of the leading causes of disability and squandered productivity, and it is responsible for 5000 deaths by year in the United States. In 2000 the estimated direct and indirect costlinesss of asthma were $12.7 billion.

As be in want ofed the NAEPP convenes a panel of masters to ensure that its guidelines throw back the latest scientific research. The asthma guidelines first were published in 1991 and then revised in 1997 These guidelines are a dynamic resource for clinicians and allow clinicians to use the best available scientific evidence when treating patients with asthma.

Correction: Update onward National Asthma Guidelines Released (new release, Arlington, Va: National Institutes of Health, June 10 2002) 1-2

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