The following is a summary of “Evaluating the relationship between the type of rescue medication and the adequacy of asthma maintenance therapy,” published in the OCTOBER 2023 issue of Pulmonology by Ponte, et al.
Current asthma management guidelines recommend the use of a rapid-onset bronchodilator (ROB) in combination with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) for relieving asthma symptoms. However, concerns have been raised about whether this combined therapy for symptom relief could lead to suboptimal maintenance therapy, as some individuals may prefer it over their regular maintenance treatment. For a cross-sectional study, researchers sought to investigate whether the type of rescue medication available to individuals with asthma is associated with suboptimal maintenance therapy.
The study included non-smokers with asthma aged ≥12 years. Participants attended physician appointments, completed questionnaires, and underwent spirometry. They used adjusted regression analysis to assess the association between the type of rescue medication and suboptimal maintenance therapy.
A total of 953 individuals were enrolled in the study, among whom 221 reported having no rescue medication, 171 used any ROB + ICS for symptom relief, and 561 used short-acting beta-agonist (SABA) alone as rescue medication. The frequency of suboptimal maintenance therapy did not show significant differences between individuals using the combination therapy and those using SABA alone for symptom relief. However, individuals who reported not having any rescue medication had a lower frequency of suboptimal maintenance therapy (P < 0.01).
The study’s findings indicated that the frequency of suboptimal maintenance therapy for asthma was similar between individuals using any ROB + ICS for symptom relief and those using SABA alone for rescue. However, individuals who reported not having any reliever medication had a lower frequency of suboptimal maintenance therapy. The results suggested that recent changes in asthma guidelines regarding the use of rescue medication may not significantly impair maintenance therapy outcomes.
Source: resmedjournal.com/article/S0954-6111(23)00252-4/fulltext