Quadrupling Inhaled Glucocorticoid Dose to Abort Asthma Exacerbations

Use of sequential quadrupling dose regimens to study efficacy of inhaled corticosteroids in asthma.

BACKGROUND Inhaled corticosteroids are widely used to treat asthma. There is a need to be able to compare different inhaled corticosteroids and different doses of an inhaled corticosteroid to determine potency and dose equivalence, but measuring efficacy in a dose related manner is difficult because of their slow onset of action. There is uncertainty about the role of sequential dosing regimens...

Escalating Inhaled Glucocorticoids to Prevent Asthma Exacerbations.

Inhaled glucocorticoids are pivotal to achieve asthma control and disease stability in both children and adults; despite their use, with or without other treatments, many patients with asthma have ongoing episodic disease exacerbations.1 Often, these are linked to provocative factors such as viral or bacterial infections, nonadherence to treatment, allergen exposure, and environmental air pollu...

Doubling the dose of inhaled corticosteroid to prevent asthma exacerbations: randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Asthma self-management plans that include doubling the dose of inhaled corticosteroid when the condition deteriorates improve asthma control. Whether doubling the dose of corticosteroid in isolation is effective is unknown. We undertook a randomised controlled trial to investigate the effects of doubling the dose of inhaled corticosteriods when asthma deteriorates. METHODS 390 indi...

Anti-inflammatory effects of high-dose inhaled fluticasone versus oral prednisone in asthma exacerbations.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the kinetics of high doses of inhaled steroid fluticasone in comparison with oral steroid prednisone on plasma protein leakage and bronchial eosinophilia in adults with moderate asthma exacerbations. The study design was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled prospective trial. In total, 45 patients treated at the emergency departmen...

Increasing the dose of inhaled corticosteroid when asthma deteriorates--does it prevent severe exacerbations?