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| |  Budesonide Plus Formoterol Superior to Budesonide Monotherapy for Asthma Across All Age Groups: Presented at ACAAI By Micheal Casasnovas MIAMI BEACH, Fla -- November 13, 2009 -- No matter the age, treatment for asthma with combination budesonide/formoterol results in a greater improvement in lung function, compared with patients treated with budesonide pressurised metered-dose inhalers alone. In all age groups evaluated, patients who received budesonide/formoterol inhalers showed greater improvement in pulmonary function based on morning predose peak expiratory flow and flow expiratory volume than those who received budesonide alone, said Craig LaForce, MD, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The researchers noted, “when reviewing data from 7 randomised, controlled asthma studies, that as a person aged, their lung function appeared to get better,” said Dr. LaForce in his poster presentation on November 8 at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) annual scientific meeting. “While the clinical benefits of inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting-beta2-agonist combination therapy have been well established relative to inhaled corticosteroids alone in patients who have persistent asthma, comparison of dosing across age groups has not been conducted,” said Dr. LaForce. Researchers analysed the randomised studies with budesonide inhalers alone and budesonide with formoterol inhalers. These studies were blinded, parallel-arm, active- and placebo-controlled. The data analysed outcomes involving 1,613 individuals who were assigned to receive the combination treatment and 1,569 patients who were assigned to treatment with budesonide monotherapy. Dr. LaForce and his research team divided the analysis into 4 groups of patients: those aged 6 to 11 years; those 12 to 15 years; those aged 16 to 64 years; and those aged 65 years and older. In all of the analyses, it appeared that lung function improved for each age group no matter which dose of the drug combination was tested against budesonide monotherapy. The research trials tested twice daily budesonide/formoterol inhaler doses of 320/9 mcg, 160/9 mcg, and 80/9 mcg versus a comparable dose of budesonide inhaler by age group. “Point estimates for mean changes from baseline in morning predose peak expiratory flow generally favoured treatment with budesonide/formoterol compared with budesonide alone,” explained Dr. LaForce. The same pattern emerged when researchers looked at changes in morning forced expiratory volume in 1 second. [Presentation title: Effect on Pulmonary Function of Budesonide/Formoterol Pressurized Metered-Dose Inhaler (PMDI) Versus Budesonide by Age Group in Randomized, Controlled Trials of Patients With Asthma. Abstract P75]
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