Association of quality of life and disease control with cigarette smoking in patients with severe asthma

More information is needed on asthma control and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in smokers with severe asthma. The main study objective was to characterize the association of HRQoL and disease control with cigarette smoking in individuals with severe asthma. A secondary objective was to analyze subject characteristics according to asthma onset: asthma that developed before smoking initiation versus asthma that developed after smoking initiation. This cross-sectional study included subjects with severe asthma aged 18-65 years. HRQoL was assessed using the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) and asthma control was assessed using the Asthma Control Test (ACT) and Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) criteria. Of the 87 patients studied, 58 (66.7%) were classified as asthmatics who had never smoked and 29 (33.3%) as asthmatics with smoking exposure. The proportion of subjects with uncontrolled asthma was higher in the asthma and smoking group (GINA criteria: P=0.032 and ACT criteria: P=0.003. There were no between-group differences in overall AQLQ score (P=0.475) or AQLQ domain scores (P>0.05). Fifty-eight subjects (66.7%) were nonsmokers, 20 (23%) had asthma onset before smoking, and 9 (10.3%) had asthma onset after smoking. Asthma onset before smoking was associated with uncontrolled asthma (P=0.013). In subjects with severe asthma, smoking was associated with a higher rate of uncontrolled disease but not with HRQoL scores.

Therapeutic Observation of Wheat-sized Moxibustion in Assisting the Treatment of Mild—to-moderate Persistent Chronic Bronchial Asthma in the Elderly / 上海针灸杂志

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of wheat-sized moxibustion in assisting the treatment of mild—to-moderate persistent chronic bronchial asthma in the elderly with Salmeterol xinafoate and fluticasone propionate aerosol. Method Eighty-four old patients with mild—to-moderate persistent chronic bronchial asthma were randomized into an observation group and a control group by using the random number table, 42 each. The control group was given Salmeterol xinafoate and fluticasone propionate aerosol, 1 inhalation each time, twice a day;the observation group was additionally given wheat-sized moxibustion by selecting Pishu (BL20), Feishu (BL13) and Geshu (BL17), twice a week. The two groups were both treated for 2 months. Before and after the intervention, Asthma Control Test (ACT), Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), and pulmonary function parameters [peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and forced vital capacity (FVC)] were observed, and the clinical efficacies were compared. Result The total effective rate was 92.9% in the observation group versus 78.6% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05); the ACT and AQLQ scores, as well as PEF, FEV1 and FVC were significantly increased after the intervention in both groups (P<0.05); after the treatment, the improvement in the observation group was significantly superior to that in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Wheat-sized moxibustion is effective in assisting the treatment of mild-to-moderate persistent chronic bronchial asthma in the elderly with Salmeterol xinafoate and fluticasone propionate aerosol. It can effectively controlasthma and enhance the quality of life.