Top articles about asthma in April 2012

Here are my suggestions for some of the top articles about asthma in April 2012:

The journal of Clinical and Experimental Allergy has a special issue devoted to the topic of severe asthma. Here are some selected articles from that issue:

Pathogenesis of severe asthma http://goo.gl/gOZyq

What is role of allergy in severe asthma? http://goo.gl/TFCTR

Asthma exacerbations are multi-component events. Each exacerbation represents an opportunity to assess and target treatment to the domains of airway pharmacotherapy, self-management behaviour, risk factors, and relevant co-morbidities. http://goo.gl/cievR

Patients with severe asthma are best investigated and managed with a multidisciplinary team http://goo.gl/v6OnH

What are the future treatments for severe asthma? http://goo.gl/C2rqS

Non-atopic males with adult onset asthma are at higher risk of persistent airflow limitation. Amongst patients with adult onset asthma, non-atopic male patients are at increased risk of accelerated decline in lung function. http://goo.gl/BUZ3s

No difference between using Symbicort vs. nebulized salbutamol as reliever for the first 15 minutes post intervention http://goo.gl/Wt63p

Approx. 9% of U.S. population has asthma - 9% of adult asthmatics have aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) http://goo.gl/FIeE9

Percutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) for Treatment of Acute Asthma Exacerbations improves FEV1 and dyspnea. 25 subjects were enrolled, 1 had minor bleeding from the procedure, and 1 had a hematoma and withdrew prior to VNS. VNS requires percutaneous placement of an electrode near the right carotid sheath and 60 minutes of VNS http://goo.gl/DzXr1

Asthma remains the most common health problem among elite athletes. "Regular, moderate exercise can improve your immune system, which can also help avoid asthma attacks" http://goo.gl/AvMue

Combination therapy (LABAs plus ICS, single inhaler) is associated with a decreased risk of serious asthma-related events. Combination therapy (LABA/ICS) should be applied to all patients with moderate to severe asthma http://goo.gl/2iN3J

The articles were selected from my Twitter and Google Reader streams.

Comments from Twitter:

Dr John Weiner @AllergyNet: Nice to recap these articles. Thank you