Asthma and Allergy Clinical Trials

Are You Currently Taking Oral Corticosteroids (OCS) for Your Asthma?

Would you like to contribute to important new research? SUNRISE is a clinical study investigating whether a new biologic treatment called tezepelumab may help to reduce or remove the need for OCS in adults with severe asthma. The study is looking for people who:

• Are between 18 and 80 years of age
• Have had an asthma diagnosis for at least 1 year
• Have been taking OCS for asthma for at least 6 months
• Have been using inhaled corticosteroids for at least a year, and a long-acting beta 2-agonist (LABA) for at least 3 months
• Have not been receiving any biologic treatment for asthma for at least 4 months
  
  

Sponsored by AstraZeneca

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Latest Asthma and Allergy News

Allergy

New Research on the Relationship Between Air Pollution and the Development of Allergic Disease
Small particles can be found in polluted air and trigger asthma. New research looks at the relationship between ambient particulate matter (PM2.5) during pregnancy and rates of allergic diseases in children. The research focused on Black and Latin groups, who are often exposed to more air pollution due to structural racism in housing and urban planning. The researchers looked at more than 1,200 mother-baby pairs. They tracked if the children developed allergic disease over a four-year period.

Overall, the researchers found that air pollution where participants lived was generally low. They also did not find major differences in exposure to air pollution by race. Also, the researchers did not find a significant relationship between pollution exposure during pregnancy and the development of asthma, allergy, eczema, or food allergy. The results highlight the need for more research on the topic, especially around other environmental and social drivers of health.

Sublingual Tablet Immunotherapy Improves Quality of Life in Adults with Allergic Rhinoconjunctivitis
This study looked at a type of allergy treatment called sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). With SLIT, allergists give patients small doses of an allergen under the tongue to improve tolerance to the allergen and reduce symptoms. This study examined the impact of SLIT in people with allergies to grass pollen, tree pollen, ragweed pollen, and house dust mites. The results of the study found that SLIT reduced allergy symptoms and improved the overall quality of life for people with these allergies, and the improvements were consistent across different trials for each allergen. These results are promising as research on SLIT continues.

Asthma

Maternal Stressful Life Events During Pregnancy and Childhood Asthma and Wheeze
A recent study looked at the relationship between a birth parent’s stress during pregnancy and the development of childhood asthma and wheeze. The researchers looked at more than 2,000 birth parents and their children to study stressful events birth parents experienced during pregnancy and breathing problems the children had at 4 to 6 years old. The results found that stress during pregnancy was linked to a higher chance of parent-reported wheeze. This was especially true for boys. But a link was not found between stressful events during pregnancy and parent-reported asthma. While more research is needed, the study offers new insight into the potential impacts of birth parent stress on children’s health.

Health Care Costs and Resources Utilization in Children with Difficult-To-Control Asthma Treated with Biologic Therapies
A recent study from Italy looks at health care use and costs for kids with severe asthma taking biologics between 2017 and 2021. The researchers found that after starting the treatment, the children taking biologics had fewer hospital visits and emergency room trips for asthma-related issues. As such, costs for hospital admission-related costs were reduced. The use of other asthma medicines also went down. But the overall cost of health care for families increased because of the cost of the biologic medicines. While health outcomes were improved for the study population, more research is needed to understand the long-term effects of biologic use on health care costs.

Asthma Control and Associated Risk Factors Among Adults with Current Asthma
New research shows that many adults with asthma don’t have their asthma under control. The study looked at data from 27 states and found that 62% of adults with asthma reported uncontrolled asthma. About one in four (26%) had to go to the emergency room or hospital because of their asthma in the past year. The study also identified factors that contribute to uncontrolled asthma, like cost barriers, alternative medicine use, smoking, obesity, having other conditions like COPD or depression, and having a lower income or education level. The authors suggest that programs to help improve asthma management are needed to reduce unnecessary trips to the hospital and improve overall health for adults with asthma.