Respiratory Resources for Primary Care

• Latest COPD, Asthma, and Allergy Guidelines Updates
  
  • The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) program plans to release the 2011 revised international guidelines, Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in December 2011.  A summary containing extracts from the report is available at: http://www.goldcopd.org/uploads/users/files/GOLD2011_Summary.pdf. The current guidelines were last updated in December 2010 and are available at: http://www.goldcopd.org/guidelines-global-strategy-for-diagnosis-management.html.
    
    
  • The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published US guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma (Expert Panel Report 3, updated August 2008: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/asthma/asthgdln.htm).
    
    
  • New Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy in the United States were published by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in December 2010. View the complete guidelines or summaries for clinicians and patients at: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodallergy/clinical/pages/default.aspx.
    
    
  • The European Federation of Allergy and Airway Diseases Patients’ Associations (EFA) launched its policy recommendations in November 2011 to improve the lives of patients with COPD and reduce costs currently spent every year for COPD. These recommendations include:
    • Enabling access to spirometry testing to all those at risk
    • Funding research on ways to prevent exacerbations
    • Supporting mobility of COPD patients on oxygen therapy
      
      
• Recent Publications of Interest
  
  • Results from a recent randomized, controlled study of 1,142 COPD patients showed that addition of azithromycin 250 mg daily to usual care for 1 year resulted in a significantly reduced frequency of exacerbations compared with placebo plus usual care (1.48 versus 1.83 per patient-year, respectively). However, azithromycin treatment was associated with an increased incidence of hearing decrements compared with placebo. The abstract of the study is available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21864166.
    
    
  • A 1-year, randomized, placebo-controlled study of 278 preschoolers with recurrent wheezing and high risk of asthma showed that intermittent treatment with a nebulized corticosteroid was just as effective in controlling the frequency of exacerbations as daily nebulized corticosteroid therapy. Preschoolers received either an intermittent high-dose regimen (budesonide inhalation suspension 1 mg twice daily for 7 days, started at the first sign of a predefined respiratory tract illness) or a daily low-dose regimen (0.5 mg nightly). The intermittent regimen provided reduced exposure to inhaled corticosteroids; over one year the cumulative dose was approximately threefold lower in children who received the intermittent verus daily regimen. The article’s abstract is available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22111718.
    
    
• FDA Approves Vaccines for the 2011-2012 Influenza Season
  On July 18 2011, the FDA approved the 2011−2012 influenza vaccine formulation to protect against the 3 virus strains that surveillance indicates will be most common during the upcoming season (the same virus strains targeted during the 2010−2011 influenza season). The FDA news release is available at: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2011/ucm263319.htm.
  
  The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends annual vaccination against influenza for all persons aged 6 months and older, including all adults. ACIP immunization schedules are posted at: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/.