Top Asthma Articles for April 2014

Here are my suggestions for some of the top articles about asthma for April:

23 million Americans have asthma, of whom 12 million experience an asthma exacerbation every year http://buff.ly/1fCJBH2

Obesity was associated with significant lung restriction in children with and without asthma. Obesity was not associated with significantly altered airway or systemic inflammation in asthmatic children. http://buff.ly/19U4E4z

Use of Written Asthma Action Plans: 27% of parents had them - 80% felt they were useful, but only 55% looked at them http://buff.ly/15VaYgb -- Wallet Written Asthma Action Plan (WAAP) Compared to a Full-Page Plan: 90% of parents felt they were useful http://buff.ly/15Vbpam

Framing Asthma: Content Analysis in US Newspapers - Fear cues present in 43% of articles, 28% contained a stigma cue http://buff.ly/15VbBq4

Exposures to molds in school classrooms of children with asthma: Mold was present in 100% of classrooms http://buff.ly/1gs5w6D

NYTimes on the hight cost of allergy and asthma medications: "The Soaring Cost of a Simple Breath" http://buff.ly/1hMN3zx

Should All Patients with Asthma Receive Statins? http://buff.ly/1bSD6kk - No, 1 in 50 patients on statins develops diabetes

Regional and near-roadway pollutants decrease children's lung function http://buff.ly/1aHHgKC

Here is Advair's replacement by GSK: Once-daily fluticasone/vilanterol reduces risk of asthma exacerbations http://buff.ly/1aHHz8h

Regional and near-roadway pollutants decrease children's lung function http://buff.ly/1aHHgKC

In the UK, FeNO is used in primary practice to guide ICS initiation, dosing and identify poor ICS adherence http://buff.ly/1aHKopT

Bed covers reduce exposure to dust mite and improve adult atopic asthma http://buff.ly/1bSHY9g

The term “asthma” should be avoided in describing the chronic pulmonary disease of prematurity http://buff.ly/1aHLguy

RCT of azithromycin in smokers with asthma: clear evidence demonstrating lack of efficacy http://buff.ly/1bSJfgv

Inhaled corticosteroids may increase risk of tuberculosis in an intermediate-TB-burden country (South Korea) http://buff.ly/1i0NonQ

FDA Approves New, Once-daily COPD Combination Therapy: Anoro Ellipta is umeclidinium (LAMA) and vilanterol (LABA) http://buff.ly/19zjMsd

Single inhaler "as needed" SMART therapy (ICS/LABA) may work better than standard b.i.d. ICS/LABA combo (Cochrane) http://buff.ly/18zIGJz


The articles were selected from Twitter @Allergy and RSS subscriptions. Some of the top allergy accounts on Twitter contributed links. I appreciate the curation provided by @Aller_MD @AllergyNet @IgECPD @DrAnneEllis @AACMaven @AllergieVoeding @allergistmommy @mrathkopf @wheezemd.

Please feel free to send suggestions for articles to allergycases AT gmail DOT com and you will receive an acknowledgement in the next edition of this publication.