Children with asthma who are provided with care and medication per National Asthma Education and Prevention Program guidelines can improve over time, despite the presence of environmental factors such as second-hand tobacco smoke and domestic pets, according to a study presented at the CHEST 2018 annual meeting.
A study conducted at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, included 395 children aged 2-17 years with a diagnosis of uncontrolled asthma. These children were then treated using the NAEPP guidelines for acute care needs and symptom control. In this sample of patients, 25% were exposed to second-hand smoke, and 55% had a cat or dog in the home.
The investigators followed these patients and observed improvement of symptoms. But in a comparison of those with and without the potentially problematic environmental factors, improvement was independent of the presence of these factors. The findings suggest that NAEPP-recommended treatment of asthma is more important than are some environmental factors.
View the study abstract here: https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(18)31862-2/fulltext.
The findings will be presented in the session on Obstructive Lung Diseases, Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 1:00 p.m.