Feedback for Asthma

"The treatments available for asthma are very limited and can typically include avoidance/allergen avoidance, medications, and exercise therapy. However, not all asthma treatments are effective and may cause asthma to worsen. Some of the most effective treatments are the use of inhaled corticosteroids and antihistamines." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Approximately 5.8 million cases are diagnosed annually, making it the third most common reason for a physician visit in the United States and the leading cause of doctor visit costs for patients over age 75 years. Most visits concerned managing symptomatic asthma." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Asthma is not cured. In many patients, symptoms improve substantially. Effective and effective-enough treatment is possible, and there are certain cases in which asthma can be resolved, but is not curable." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Asthmatic adults and children may present with symptoms that are non-specific and can mimic other chronic obstructive lung diseases. In adults, recurrent chest pain, rapid onset and recurrence of wheezing or breathlessness are some of the key characteristics of asthma. Other signs, which are less reliable, include an eosinophilic inflammatory infiltrate in lung biopsy specimens and elevated serum IgE." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Asthma is the most common chronic inflammatory lung disease. Asthma is also characterized by impaired lung function that often leads to increased mortality rate. Asthma in recent years, disproportionately affects obese individuals, while smokers tend to have less severe symptoms. Asthma is not only a respiratory disease, but a chronic, treatable lung disorder with a life-threatening, acute progression for individuals with severe disease or more severe exacerbations. One percent of the US population may manifest some type of asthma." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"The environment and lifestyle factors of early life may modify the development of asthma. This modification may result in either the increased likelihood of developing chronic asthma, or, alternatively, in the improved management and control of acute asthma. Lifestyle factors include physical activity, diet, exposure to infectious agents, exposure to air pollutants, and the degree to which the airways are protected from triggers. These factors play an important role only in the development of sensitisation or of asthma. We highlight here environmental factors, namely particulate air pollution, which exert a major influence on the course of asthma and on its response to treatment." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"We found that the intervention group had improved lung functions 1 year after the final intervention while the control group showed a small deterioration. However, due to the statistically relevant small difference between the groups, the effect cannot be said to be significant. It cannot be excluded that the statistical relevance was overestimated by the statistically insignificant small difference between the groups. Because the control group showed a deterioration, while the treatment group improved, it cannot be excluded that a placebo effect played a role. This effect could be either beneficial or harmful, depending on whether the disease is improved or deteriorated. When the intervention group showed an improvement, the effect can be said to be statistically significant, whereas a deterioration cannot." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"A recent innovation in the delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation has been an increased emphasis on the use of electronic communication by which a clinician can directly send feedback regarding exercise performance to the patient. This allows the patient to continue to receive treatment without having to come into a clinic everyday, and allows clinicians to use rehabilitation strategies they would otherwise have trouble implementing as they need to be tailored to fit the needs of the clinic and the patient. Electronic feedback has been found to be a successful and effective form of pulmonary rehabilitation in outpatient settings. The integration of electronic communication also has a positive impact on clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. Further research into the benefits of incorporating electronic communication into clinical practice is warranted." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Several new treatments have been released and have shown promise when tested with a variety of patient populations. The first drug with real advantages over existing treatments is a selective histamine re-uptake inhibitor that blocks the effect of histamine on airway disease, and might have a potential role in the management of asthma in the future. \nIt should be noted that the efficacy of most compounds was not replicated in rigorous, randomized studies for asthma in large multicenter trials. Further work needs to be undertaken to confirm their efficacy and also to elucidate in what situations they are most effective. Moreover, the number of patients needed to achieve a significant clinical impact is probably not too large." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"The most common side effects, occurring in over 50% of patients, were nausea, headache and insomnia. However, all patients tolerated these side effects and some reported improvement." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Feedback is a well-accepted methodology to improve quality use of health services by enhancing evidence-based practice practices. Therefore, feedback should be a first option in education of all health workers, especially for trainees." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"An interactive curriculum using standardized patients and standardized patients' reflections, led by an internal medicine and pediatrics resident-led team, reduced LNAA and increased perceptions of QOL among pediatric asthmatics, while only small improvements were seen among adult asthmatics." - Anonymous Online Contributor