First Appeared Friday, 07 September '07

NPR Discusses New NIH Asthma Treatment Guidelines with UCSF’s Boushey

The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) has just issued the first comprehensive update in a decade of clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma. The guidelines emphasize the importance of asthma control and introduce new approaches for monitoring asthma. Updated recommendations for managing asthma include an expanded section on childhood asthma (with an additional age group), new guidance on medications, new recommendations on patient education in settings beyond the physician's office, and new advice for controlling environmental factors that can cause asthma symptoms.

Homer Boushey, MD, professor of medicine, and Susan Janson, RN, ANP, DNS, FAAN, professor in Community Health Systems, were members of the expert panel that wrote the most recent guidelines. NPR’s Morning Edition recently interviewed Boushey for a segment on the new guidelines.

September is the peak month for asthma attacks that send kids to hospital emergency rooms. "The most common precipitant of a bad attack of asthma is infection with the common cold virus," says Boushey. "And what happens when kids get back together for school is they start exchanging viruses." The updated guidelines include the first distinct treatment recommendations for children ages 5 to 11 years old. They include recommendations on preferred medications, such as cortico-steroids which are used to reduce inflammation in the airways, and short-acting bronchodilators, such as Albuterol, which are used as "rescue" inhalers.

The guidelines include a new focus on self-monitoring of symptoms and urge physicians to work with their patients to develop written asthma action plans.

Related Links:

NIH: Create Action Plans to Control Kids’ Asthma
Morning Edition, NPR, September 6, 2007

UCSF Faculty on Expert Panel Releasing Updated National Asthma Guidelines
UCSF Today, August 30, 2007

National Asthma Guidelines Updated
NIH news release, August 29, 2007

Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma (EPR-3)
NHLBI

National Asthma Education and Prevention Program
NHLBI

Asthma public education materials
NHLBI

New Asthma Rules Focus on Monitoring
Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2007

New Asthma Guidelines Urge Better Day-to-Day Control, Not Just Attention to Bad Attacks
Associated Press, August 29, 2007

Study Challenges Current Treatment for Mild Asthma
UCSF Today, April 15, 2005