Medication, self-monitoring recommended to control asthma: too many patients rely on rescue medications, when the true goal of treatment is to achieve stability.(Drug Class Overview)

Publication: Managed Healthcare Executive

Publication Date: 01-NOV-04

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SEVERAL DRUG REGIMENS are available for asthmatics, but the key to asthma control is to reduce airway inflammation and therefore limit the need for short-term rescue medications.

For reasons that aren't clear, the incidence of asthma has been increasing in recent years. According to the Centers for Disease Control, between 1980 and 1996 asthma increased 73.9%, with an estimated 14.6 million people in the United States reporting asthma during 1996, or 55 persons out of each 1,000.

To decrease airway inflammation, asthma symptoms and the risk of death, inhaled corticosteroids should be used daily over an extended period of time. They include Pulmicort (budesonide), Aerobid (flunisolide), Flovent (fluticasone propionate), Azma-cort (triamcinolone acetonide), and QVAR (beclomethasone dipropionate). "Inhaled corticosteroids are generally free of serious toxicity; and the risk of systemic effects can be minimized by using the lowest effective dose and using proper inhalation technique to minimize swallowing of the drug," says Mark Abramowicz, MD, editor of The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics, a non-profit newsletter that critically appraises drugs.

When an asthma attack occurs, short-acting...

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