Efficacy of carbamazepine in treatment of bronchial asthma

The real break-throw in asthma treatment is still unreachable. In many cases drugs are not effective for reaching the control state. To investigate the efficacy of Carbamazepine in treatment of bronchial asthma. A randomized, parallel 6-month trial. Hundred patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and divided into two groups. Group [1] received Carbamazepine [600-1600 mg/day] in addition to their usual anti-asthmatic treatment and group [2] received only the usual anti-asthmatic therapy. Baseline electroencephalography [EEG] study was done for all patients. Assessment of asthma control according to GINA classification was done before, 3 and 6 months after therapy. The mean age of studied patients was [37.9 +/- 9.47 and 28.6 +/- 11.06], in group 1 and 2 respectively. Two cases in group 1 showed abnormal EEG and no abnormality in group 2. As regards level of asthma control, there was statistically significant difference between first visit and third visit in both groups with high value in group 1 [P value 0.001, 0.04]. In comparing spirometric data of both groups at each visit it revealed statistically significant P value in all parameters [FEV1 0.001, FVC 0.003, PEF 0.01, FEE 25-75 0.001] except FEV1/FVC [P value was 0.264]. The frequency of acute asthma exacerbation in both groups was [0.5 +/- 0.57 and 3.2 +/- 0.98] in group 1 and 2, respectively [95% CI 2.4-3.1] with highly significant P value 0.003. In the Carbamazepine group dizziness was recorded in 6 cases 12%, itching in 2 cases 4%, and increasing sleepiness in 2 cases 4%. Carbamazepine is effective in treatment and in achievement of better asthma control with minimal side effect

Bronchial asthma among school students of Sohag district

Respiratory system diseases are common among school students but there were no previous community based studies conducted to show the prevalence of bronchial asthma among school students in sohag governorate, also for the assessment of the school classroom environment affecting those diseased students. A cross sectional study was done and randomly chosen classroom from each school from the 50 sampled schools was selected. This study in 2408 students from different grades who completed a prepaired questionnaire and went thorough history taking, physical examination and pulmonary function test for suspicious cases for bronchial asthma with special interest to FEV1 improvement of more than 15% after inhaled sulbutamol. Prevalence of bronchial asthma was [4.81%]; [3.40%] in urban schools and [1.41%] in rural schools with statistically highly significant difference between urban and rural [P<0.001 and 0.002 respectively]. The mean classroom density was [44.6 students per classroom]. About the classroom ventilation, windows area constitutes >/= 1/4-1/5 of the classroom area in [90%] of the schools; [95%] of urban schools and [86.7%] of rural schools. There was significant difference in the prevalence of asthma among urban and rural area school students. Prevalence was high among families with positive history of bronchial asthma. Most of school students who were diagnosed as bronchial asthma had other allergic diseases like eczema and allergic rhinitis and eye allergy