Seasonal variation in asthma exacerbations in the AUSTRI and VESTRI studies.

Seasonal variation in the benefit of LABA/ICS versus ICS on asthma exacerbation rate is observed in children. http://ow.ly/pcZF30o8hHk.

Safety of Adding Salmeterol to Fluticasone Propionate in Children with Asthma.

BACKGROUND: Long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs) have been shown to increase the risk of asthma-related death among adults and the risk of asthma-related hospitalization among children. It is unknown whether the concomitant use of inhaled glucocorticoids with LABAs mitigates those risks. This trial prospectively evaluated the safety of the LABA salmeterol, added to fluticasone propionate, in a fixed-dose combination in children. METHODS: We randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, children 4 to 11 years of age who required daily asthma medications and had a history of asthma exacerbations in the previous year to receive fluticasone propionate plus salmeterol or fluticasone alone for 26 weeks. The primary safety end point was the first serious asthma-related event (death, endotracheal intubation, or hospitalization), as assessed in a time-to-event analysis. The statistical design specified that noninferiority would be shown if the upper boundary of the 95% confidence interval of the hazard ratio for the primary safety end point was less than 2.675. The main efficacy end point was the first severe asthma exacerbation that led to treatment with systemic glucocorticoids, as assessed in a time-to-event analysis. RESULTS: Among the 6208 patients, 27 patients in the fluticasone-salmeterol group and 21 in the fluticasone-alone group had a serious asthma-related event (all were hospitalizations); the hazard ratio with fluticasone-salmeterol versus fluticasone alone was 1.28 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73 to 2.27), which showed the noninferiority of fluticasone-salmeterol (P=0.006). A total of 265 patients (8.5%) in the fluticasone-salmeterol group and 309 (10.0%) in the fluticasone-alone group had a severe asthma exacerbation (hazard ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.73 to 1.01). CONCLUSIONS: In this trial involving children with asthma, salmeterol in a fixed-dose combination with fluticasone was associated with the risk of a serious asthma-related event that was similar to the risk with fluticasone alone. (Funded by GlaxoSmithKline; VESTRI ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01462344 .).

Serious Asthma Events with Fluticasone plus Salmeterol versus Fluticasone Alone.

BACKGROUND: The safe and appropriate use of long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs) for the treatment of asthma has been widely debated. In two large clinical trials, investigators found a potential risk of serious asthma-related events associated with LABAs. This study was designed to evaluate the risk of administering the LABA salmeterol in combination with an inhaled glucocorticoid, fluticasone propionate. METHODS: In this multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial, adolescent and adult patients (age, ≥12 years) with persistent asthma were assigned to receive either fluticasone with salmeterol or fluticasone alone for 26 weeks. All the patients had a history of a severe asthma exacerbation in the year before randomization but not during the previous month. Patients were excluded from the trial if they had a history of life-threatening or unstable asthma. The primary safety end point was the first serious asthma-related event (death, endotracheal intubation, or hospitalization). Noninferiority of fluticasone-salmeterol to fluticasone alone was defined as an upper boundary of the 95% confidence interval for the risk of the primary safety end point of less than 2.0. The efficacy end point was the first severe asthma exacerbation. RESULTS: Of 11,679 patients who were enrolled, 67 had 74 serious asthma-related events, with 36 events in 34 patients in the fluticasone-salmeterol group and 38 events in 33 patients in the fluticasone-only group. The hazard ratio for a serious asthma-related event in the fluticasone-salmeterol group was 1.03 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64 to 1.66), and noninferiority was achieved (P=0.003). There were no asthma-related deaths; 2 patients in the fluticasone-only group underwent asthma-related intubation. The risk of a severe asthma exacerbation was 21% lower in the fluticasone-salmeterol group than in the fluticasone-only group (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.89), with at least one severe asthma exacerbation occurring in 480 of 5834 patients (8%) in the fluticasone-salmeterol group, as compared with 597 of 5845 patients (10%) in the fluticasone-only group (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients who received salmeterol in a fixed-dose combination with fluticasone did not have a significantly higher risk of serious asthma-related events than did those who received fluticasone alone. Patients receiving fluticasone-salmeterol had fewer severe asthma exacerbations than did those in the fluticasone-only group. (AUSTRI ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01475721.).

Controller medications and their effects on asthma exacerbations temporally associated with upper respiratory infections.

BACKGROUND: Exacerbations are a major risk and a cause of asthma morbidity and healthcare utilization. Viral-induced upper respiratory tract infections are the most frequent trigger of asthma-related exacerbations. Studies have traditionally assessed exacerbations without documentation regarding exacerbation etiology. Therefore, it remains unknown whether asthma medications can alter exacerbation susceptibility based on a specific etiology. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether treatment with inhaled corticosteroids plus long-acting beta(2)-agonists reduced the number of exacerbations associated with upper respiratory tract infections versus inhaled corticosteroids alone. METHODS: Two large datasets comparing treatment with fluticasone propionate and fluticasone propionate plus salmeterol were analyzed, including the number of clinically reported upper respiratory tract infections, asthma-related exacerbations, and the presence of an exacerbation and concurrent report of an upper respiratory tract infection. RESULTS: Both treatment groups had similar incidences of upper respiratory tract infections. Of those reporting an upper respiratory tract infection, statistically significantly fewer reported an asthma-related exacerbation comparing fluticasone propionate plus salmeterol with fluticasone propionate (p=0.0057). DISCUSSION: This retrospective analysis suggests that therapy with fluticasone propionate plus salmeterol provides protection against asthma exacerbations temporally associated with upper respiratory tract infections. This retrospective analysis supports the hypothesis that specific therapeutic approaches to mitigate virus-associated exacerbations may benefit asthma care. Well-controlled prospective studies are warranted.

Longterm survival among patients with scleroderma-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension treated with intravenous epoprostenol.

OBJECTIVE: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) remains challenging to treat, especially in association with scleroderma. We examined survival rates among patients with PAH in association with scleroderma who received epoprostenol (Flolan) through continuous intravenous (i.v.) infusion in an uncontrolled open-label 3-year extension study following an initial randomized, controlled 12-week study. METHODS: One hundred two patients diagnosed with PAH in association with scleroderma who received epoprostenol were included in the analyses. This included 51 PAH patients from a subject population of 56 who received epoprostenol in the randomized controlled study, and 46 patients from an initial population of 55 subjects on conventional therapy in the randomized controlled study, who received epoprostenol in the extension study. All patients in this extension study received open-label epoprostenol. Adverse events, survival, and dosing information were collected throughout the study. RESULTS: The probabilities of survival during the first and second years for all subjects who received epoprostenol during the initial randomized controlled study or during the extension study were 0.71 and 0.52, respectively. This measure remained constant at 0.48 during the third and fourth years. CONCLUSION: This study reports longterm survival rates for patients with scleroderma-associated PAH treated with i.v. epoprostenol. Although comparisons to historical data should be made with caution, this study reports a better survival outcome than natural history data on patients with scleroderma-associated PAH.

Meta-analysis: effects of adding salmeterol to inhaled corticosteroids on serious asthma-related events.

BACKGROUND: Recent analyses have suggested an increased risk for serious asthma-related adverse events in patients receiving long-acting beta-agonists. PURPOSE: To examine whether the incidences of severe asthma-related events (hospitalizations, intubations, deaths, and severe exacerbations) differ in persons receiving salmeterol plus inhaled corticosteroids compared with inhaled corticosteroids alone. DATA SOURCES: The GlaxoSmithKline (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) database, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews (1982 to September 2007) were searched without language restriction. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized, controlled trials reported in any language that compared inhaled corticosteroids plus salmeterol (administered as fluticasone propionate/salmeterol by means of a single device or concomitant administration of inhaled corticosteroids and salmeterol) versus inhaled corticosteroids alone in participants with asthma. DATA EXTRACTION: Three physicians independently reviewed and adjudicated blinded case narratives on serious adverse events that were reported in the GlaxoSmithKline trials. DATA SYNTHESIS: Data from 66 GlaxoSmithKline trials involving a total of 20 966 participants with persistent asthma were summarized quantitatively. The summary risk difference for asthma-related hospitalizations from these trials was 0.0002 (95% CI, -0.0019 to 0.00231; P = 0.84) for participants receiving inhaled corticosteroids plus salmeterol (n = 35 events) versus those receiving inhaled corticosteroids alone (n = 34 events). One asthma-related intubation and 1 asthma-related death occurred among participants receiving inhaled corticosteroids with salmeterol; no such events occurred among participants receiving inhaled corticosteroids alone. A subset of 24 trials showed a decreased risk for severe asthma-related exacerbations for inhaled corticosteroids plus salmeterol versus inhaled corticosteroids alone (risk difference, -0.025 [CI, -0.036 to -0.014]; P <0.001). LIMITATIONS: The included trials involved selected patients who received careful follow-up. Only 26 trials were longer than 12 weeks. Few deaths and intubations limited the ability to measure risk for these outcomes. CONCLUSION: Salmeterol combined with inhaled corticosteroids decreases the risk for severe exacerbations, does not seem to alter the risk for asthma-related hospitalizations, and may not alter the risk for asthma-related deaths or intubations compared with inhaled corticosteroids alone.

No growth suppression in children treated with the maximum recommended dose of fluticasone propionate aqueous nasal spray for one year.

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of fluticasone propionate aqueous nasal spray (at a maximum recommended dose of 200 micrograms each day) administered daily for one year was conducted to evaluate its potential effects on growth, measured by stadiometry, in prepubescent children with perennial allergic rhinitis (n = 150; age 3.5 to 9.0 years). The results demonstrate equivalent growth velocity over a one-year treatment period between children receiving fluticasone propionate aqueous nasal spray and children receiving vehicle placebo. In addition, children in both treatment groups had similar increases in height over the same period. Baseline height was 119.1 cm (SE = 0.72) in the fluticasone propionate group (n = 56) and 119.0 cm (SE = 0.71) in the vehicle placebo group (n = 52). Mean height at the end of one year of treatment was 125.5 cm (SE = 0.18) in the fluticasone propionate group (n = 44) and 125.4 cm (SE = 0.19) in the vehicle placebo group (n = 39) (least-squares mean difference -0.12; 95% confidence interval [-0.600, 0.352]). The effects of fluticasone propionate on one-year growth velocity were also comparable to those of vehicle placebo. The confidence interval for the treatment difference lay within the prospectively defined equivalence bounds (of -0.8, +0.8 cm/year) and contained zero. The incidence of adverse events considered to be at least possibly drug-related did not differ between the fluticasone propionate group and the vehicle placebo group. The results of this one-year, double-blind study demonstrate that fluticasone propionate aqueous nasal spray at the maximum recommended dose of two sprays per nostril (200 micrograms) once daily was equivalent to vehicle placebo with no effects on growth rate in prepubescent children.