The following is a summary of “Comparison of clinical remission criteria for severe asthma patients receiving biologic therapy,” published in the February 2024 issue of Pulmonology by Breslavsky, et al.

In severe asthma treatment, achieving remission while on biological therapy is considered a pivotal goal, which encompasses specific criteria such as abstaining from continuous systemic steroid use, absence of exacerbations, minimal symptoms, and optimal lung function over a considerable period. However, the precise definition of remission criteria still needs to be discovered. For a study, researchers sought to compare various criteria for defining remission among individuals receiving biological treatments for severe asthma.

They conducted a cross-sectional study involving adults with severe asthma who had been on a stable regimen of biological therapy for at least six months. They examined the proportion of participants meeting different specific criteria within four domains and those meeting various composite outcome measures indicating clinical remission.

Among 39 participants, the majority were female (71.8%), with a mean age of 60.4 years. A significant number had a history of smoking (30.8%), and some had prior experience with different biological treatments (30.8%). The current biological therapies included mepolizumab (30.8%), dupilumab (28.2%), benralizumab (25.6%), omalizumab (12.8%), and reslizumab (2.6%). Different specific criteria for remission were met by varying proportions of participants, with the highest adherence observed for no chronic steroid use (80%) and the lowest for symptom control and lung function (39%). Overall, remission was achieved by 20–41% of participants, depending on the definition used, with considerable variability in agreement between different sets of remission criteria (Cohen’s kappa 0.33–0.89).

The findings suggested that clinical remission can be attained by individuals with severe asthma receiving biological therapies in real-world settings. However, the core criteria defining remission needed to be better clarified.

Reference: resmedjournal.com/article/S0954-6111(24)00002-7/abstract