Topic
Respiratory medicine research, explained
5 open-access respiratory medicine studies, each with a flashcard deck and a quiz.
- How well controlled is asthma in people on daily inhalers?
Most people taking daily preventer inhalers still had poorly controlled asthma, and when symptoms worsened they reached for their rescue inhaler first and increased their preventer only late.
- Is COPD worse in people who also have asthma?
Smokers with COPD who had asthma earlier in life had similar lung function to those with COPD alone but worse quality of life and far more frequent flare-ups.
- Can a blood test reveal what kind of airway inflammation asthma has?
A routine blood eosinophil count identified eosinophilic airway inflammation about as well as exhaled nitric oxide, but blood neutrophils were a poor guide to neutrophilic asthma.
- Is an antibody against IL-9 safe to give people with asthma?
Repeated injections of an experimental anti-IL-9 antibody were tolerated about as well as placebo in people with mild asthma, with early hints that it might blunt exercise-triggered airway narrowing.
- Can blocking IgE-making B cells prevent asthma attacks?
Quilizumab, an antibody that targets the B cells that make IgE, lowered IgE levels by about a third but did not reduce asthma attacks or improve breathing in adults with hard-to-control allergic asthma.