A M E R I C A N L U N G A S S O C I A T I O N ’ S A S T H M A N E W S

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American Lung Association:Leading the Way in AsthmaResearch

The need for more information about how totreat and manage asthma is greater than ever. Morethan 31.3 million Americans have been diagnosedwith asthma at some point in their lives, 20.3 cur-rently have asthma, and 12 million of them havehad an asthma attack in the past year. Asthma hasincreased over the past two decades, reaching epi-demic proportions. Medical professionals arealarmed and mystified by the dramatic increase inthe number of asthma sufferers.

The American Lung Association understandsthe importance of research. In 1999, in an effortto control and find a cure for asthma, the LungAssociation launched the Asthma ClinicalResearch Center (ACRC) network, an integralpart of the American Lung Association’s AsthmaResearch Initiative. The ACRC is a nationwideasthma research network created to provideimportant information about asthma that willdirectly benefit patients. It is comprised of 19

centers located throughout the United States.The ACRC’s network is unique because of its

ability to do large-scale studies. In addition, thenetwork provides researchers with the opportuni-ty to study asthma in diverse environments, fromremote rural areas to academic centers in urbanareas. The inclusion of five pediatric centers addseven more strength to this network, because chil-dren are often forgotten in research, and answersare needed to better treat the approximately 6.3million children who currently have asthma.Another major advantage of the ACRC networkis that large studies can be completed in a muchshorter time than if only one or two centers werebeing used. With 19 centers, a study can be com-pleted relatively quickly, hastening results to helppeople who are currently struggling with asthma.

Important StudiesOn November 22, 2001, the ACRC released

the results of its first study, which examined theeffects of influenza vaccine in people with asth-ma. This study found that the influenza vaccinesare safe for children and adults with asthma.These findings allowed the American LungAssociation to put to rest previous concerns aboutpossible side effects of the flu shot in people withasthma. More importantly, results showed thatthe flu vaccine does not cause asthma attacks.

Viral respiratory infections, such as influenza,are especially dangerous—even life-threatening—to asthma sufferers. Hospitalization rates for asth-ma sufferers increase two- to fivefold duringmajor flu epidemics. Viral infections are believedto be the cause of 80% to 85% of asthmaepisodes in children. The findings from this studywill help reduce medical costs and hospitalizationrates in asthma sufferers. The American LungAssociation estimates that if all adults with asth-ma received the influenza vaccine, approximately52,000 hospitalizations would be prevented, at acost savings of $502 million after the cost of thevaccine is taken into account. If all children withasthma received the vaccine, approximately138,500 hospitalizations would be prevented, sav-ing approximately $560 million—even after tak-ing into account the cost of the vaccine. Theresults of this study can be found in theNovember 2001 issue of the New EnglandJournal of Medicine (345:1529-36).

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The network is currently completing its secondstudy, which will evaluate the effectiveness ofusing a lower than usual dosage of theophyllinein treating asthma sufferers with mild-to-moder-ate asthma. If low doses are found to be effectivewithout causing significant side effects, the treat-ment could offer a low-cost alternative for manyasthma patients.

Future ResearchThe centers have the ability to study diverse

populations in terms of age, race, ethnicity, andasthma severity. Looking forward, these popula-tions need to be studied more closely; statisticsshow that asthma prevalence and mortality ratesvary according to race and gender. Currently,non-Hispanic blacks are 16% more likely to haveasthma than whites, and 47% more likely thanHispanics. Also, females are about 30% morelikely than males to have asthma.

“The ACRC centers are an unqualified suc-cess,” says Norman H. Edelman, MD, scientificconsultant for the ALA. “A recent review by anindependent panel of experts confirmed that thecenters perform a critical research role by fundingstudies, which ask important questions thatrequire large numbers of subjects for definitiveanswers. An excellent example is the recent studyof the influenza vaccine and asthma. Only bystudying large numbers of people could we saywith great confidence that the flu shot does notcause an asthma attack. If patients and physicians

heed these results and the use of the vaccine inasthma patients increases, the savings in terms ofdollars and use of the medical system will begreat.”

Finding A CureAsthma research is crucial to learning how to

control the disease and eventually finding a cure.It has helped to improve medications currentlybeing used to treat asthma and to develop newtreatments for asthma sufferers. This research canalso offer more immediate benefits for asthmasufferers. Patients who choose to participate instudies or clinical trials often learn more abouttheir asthma, how to better control it, and theimportance of taking their medication properly.The same can be said for the parent of a childwith asthma; parents learn more about theirchild’s asthma and their role in the child’s asthmamanagement.

Asthma can be life-threatening if it is notproperly managed. Asthma now kills close to5,000 Americans each year. The lives of thosewho suffer with asthma have been dramaticallyaffected by the research that has been done thusfar. Continued research will help to furtherimprove asthma management resources and helpto find a cure.

doi:10.1067/mas.2003.29