Asthma is the most common chronic disorder in industrialised nations, with over 100 million people worldwide affected. Leukotrienes are chemical mediators released from mast cells, eosinophils and basophils. They cause bronchoconstriction, an increase in mucous secretions and activation of...

Introduction: Budesonide/formoterol (Symbicort(R)) Maintenance And Reliever Therapy (SMART) is an effective and well tolerated treatment option for patients with asthma. We compared the cost effectiveness from a societal perspective of this one-inhaler regimen with that of maintenance...

Clinical studies have shown that the combination of an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and a long-acting beta2-adrenoceptor agonist (LABA) for patients with asthma is more effective than the use of ICS alone in equivalent or higher doses, as well as the use of other combinations. However, the...

Objective: To compare the relative value of an inhaled corticosteroid, fluticasone propionate 88microg twice daily, versus an oral leukotriene receptor antagonist, zafirlukast 20mg twice daily, in patients with persistent asthma currently receiving short acting beta2-agonists alone. Study...

Objective: To compare the expected costs of treating patients with asthma with versus without inhaled anti-inflammatory medications, adjusting for other factors that also influence medical care expenditures. Design: Nonlinear exponential regression analyses were used to estimate relationships...

Asthma guidelines recommend an inhaled corticosteroid plus a long-acting inhaled beta2-agonist (beta2-adrenoceptor agonist) as the preferred maintenance therapy for moderate and severe persistent asthma. Advair(R)/Seretide(R) Diskus(R), also registered as Accuhaler(R), is fixed-dose salmeterol...

Objective: To assess the efficacy of a World Wide Web-enabled asthma self-management intervention on quality-of-life indicators among self-selected participants with asthma. Design: A quasi-experimental design was used in which quality-of-life outcome indicators were derived from the Mini Asthma...

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of adults and children in industrialized countries, and has had a marked increase in prevalence over the past 25 years. Asthma disproportionately affects under-represented minority populations, with African Americans and (some) Hispanics having...

An essential component of quality asthma care is ongoing communication between patients and their caregivers. To make healthy, lifelong changes in their behavior, patients need to receive simple, consistent, and reinforcing messages. Interactive, electronic communication has the capacity to...

Background: Although information technology applications are part of all disease management programs, most programs involve extensive nurse interventions. Objective: To present clinical and financial outcomes data from One Health Plan's technology-based program(s), which provide asthma, diabetes...