The following advances in asthma research were presented at the recent 2006 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting in Miami Beach.

Pregnant women who have a higher intake of vitamin D may decrease the risk for asthma in their offspring during early childhood, according to new research presented by Carlos Camargo Jr., MD, and colleagues from the Boston-based Harvard Medical School.

The study noted vitamin D deficiency and asthma are common in the northeastern part of the United States and although vitamin D is important for the immune system, its affect on asthma was unknown.

Information was gathered from Project Viva participants and tracked how much vitamin D mothers had during pregnancy, and found that an increase in vitamin D was associated with a lower childhood risk of wheezing or doctor-diagnosed asthma. The study noted follow-up would be needed to see if the lower risk continued as the children grew older.

Maternal asthma is a risk factor for prematurity and low birth weight, according to new research presented by Joel J. Liem, MD, and colleagues from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

These researchers used information from the Manitoba Health Services Insurance Plan, a healthcare and prescription database that has records of every child born in the province of Manitoba, and that of their mothers, to conduct the research. Mothers diagnosed with asthma between 1990-1995 or at least one prescription of asthma medication in 1995 were studied.

There were 13,980 children born in 1995, with 10.4 percent of the mothers suffering from maternal asthma. The research showed that mothers who suffered from asthma were more likely (2.77 times on average) to have a baby born at less than 28 weeks gestation, and 3.04 times more likely to have a baby born at less than 32 weeks gestation than a non asthmatic mother.

Exposure to maternal stress early in life can lead to the development of asthma, according to research presented by Anita L. Kozyrskyj, PhD, from the University of Manitoba.

Kozyrskyj and colleagues used Manitoba's healthcare database records to determine which children had developed asthma by 7 years old on the basis of health care visits for asthma or prescriptions for asthma prescription drugs. Maternal stress was defined as physician visits for depression and anxiety, or antidepressant prescriptions.

Analyses of the children took place at 1, 4, and 7 years of age. Of the 13,980 children born in Manitoba in 1995, 19 percent were exposed to maternal stress during the first year of life. This exposure to stress increased the likelihood of asthma, according to the study. Eleven percent of the children were re-exposed to maternal stress by age 7 and 8 percent were re-exposed at age 4 and 7 years. Re-exposure to maternal stress by age 7 increased the likelihood of asthma, and the risk increased with repeated exposure to maternal stress, concluded the study.

Accurately recording if children take their asthma medication is an ongoing challenge, according to a new study presented by Bruce Bender, MD of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver.

Bender and colleagues observed adherence over 4 months and 3 different ways was 45 percent in 131 asthmatic children requiring daily medication. One in 4 children used less than 25 percent of their medication, and 58 percent used less than half. Each of the 3 ways to measure if the children were taking their medications produced different challenges and errors, according to the study.

The study concluded that poor medication adherence in this study group establishes once again that non-adherence remains a major barrier to successful treatment, and also added there isn't a definitive way to measure adherence.

Intermittent asthma accounts for a substantial portion of asthma-related emergency department visits, according to findings presented by Robert T. Hsu, MD, from the Los Angeles-based VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

Hsu and colleagues analyzed pharmacy and diagnostic coding records from 202 adults ages 19 to 85 that were treated for asthma in the emergency department from April-July 2002. Subjects were classified by asthma severity based on 2001- 2002 pharmacy records and emergency department visits for asthma. The study concluded that of 180 total visits for asthma, 48 percent occurred in patients with intermittent asthma (less than 4 asthma prescriptions in the past year). In addition, when the sub-group was analyzed, 40 percent of the patients needed no medications and 36 percent of the patients had required neither controller nor reliever medications in the year before the emergency department visit.

Source: AAAAI