A new study shows that monitoring levels of exhaled nitric oxide in adolescents with asthma and adjusting treatment accordingly does not improve the course of their disease.

In a new consensus statement, the American College of Chest Physicians offers guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of work-related asthma (WRA), a chronic respiratory condition that includes occupational asthma and work-exacerbated asthma (WEA) and affects as many as 25 percent of adults with asthma.

People with asthma who regularly use salmeterol are at a greater risk of non-fatal serious adverse events than those using placebos. This conclusion was arrived at by a team of Cochrane Researchers who drew together data from 26 trials involving 62,630 patients.

AstraZeneca announced that it submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of a new indication for SYMBICORT® (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Inhalation Aerosol for the long-term maintenance treatment of asthma in pediatric patients ages 6 to 11 years old.

A presentation that demonstrates breathing exercises designed to help reduce the use of asthma inhalers is today available to the general public for free from the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Asthma and Airways website.

A new open-label study evaluated patient satisfaction with budesonide/formoterol combination therapy and fluticasone/salmeterol combination therapy, as measured by the Asthma Treatment Satisfaction Measure (ATSM).1

A new 12-week study2examined safety and efficacy measures of the maintenance combination asthma therapy, SYMBICORT® (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dehydrate) Inhalation Aerosol,2 in treating mild to moderate persistent asthma in children ages 6 to 15 years old2 who were previously treated with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS).2 Of note.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have defined a new type of immune response that is activated in patients with severe asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Their discovery could dramatically improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic inflammatory lung disease.

Two studies that offer new insights to help adolescents and younger children improve their asthma control will be presented by researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center at this year’s annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Society (PAS) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

A new study reports that inner-city children with asthma may be particularly vulnerable to air pollution at levels below current air quality standards. The study, available online today, analyzes the short-term effects of outdoor pollution levels on asthma symptoms and lung function in children. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

When an asthma attack occurs, many sufferers use a device — a “spacer” — to increase the chances that rescue medicine travels from an inhaler all the way down to the airways where it is needed. A new review of studies found no difference between the effectiveness of commercially manufactured devices and homemade spacers — sometimes fashioned from a plastic soda bottle or a Styrofoam cup.

A study has found only 16% of the 352,082 Australians who filled a prescription for asthma preventer medications for the first time during the period July 2004 to June 2005, went on to use them regularly.