On World Asthma Day, the National Institutes of Health reaffirms its commitment to research to improve the lives of asthmatics. More than 25 million people in the United States suffer from asthma, including 5.1 million children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic lung disease can reduce quality of life, contribute to emotional and financial stress, and is a factor that can interfere with schoolwork and work. In addition, severe asthma attacks may require urgent medical attention. And while anyone can develop asthma, reports indicate that some people are at a higher risk of developing it than people of other racial and ethnic groups.
In December 2020, the NHLBI announced the release of updated asthma management and treatment guidelines with input from the National Coordinating Committee for Asthma Education and Prevention Programs. The recommendations detailed in the 2020-focused update to the asthma management guidelines are designed to improve patient care and support informed decision-making about clinical asthma management in six priority areas. These include
Inhaled corticosteroids
Long-acting muscarinic antagonists
Methods to reduce exposure to indoor allergenic agents
Immunotherapy
Partial testing of exhaled nitric oxide.
Bronchial thermoplasty
are included in this section.
COVID-19 disease since last year has created special concern and uncertainty for people with asthma. Some evidence suggests that moderate-to-severe asthma may be at increased risk, but for severe disease caused by COVID-19, two independent studies supported by NIAID have shown that people with allergic asthma are not at increased risk and that potential mechanisms have been identified These studies suggest that people with asthma and allergies are not at increased risk.
These studies explained that people with asthma and allergic diseases have reduced expression of the human gene that encodes the receptor on airway cells that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, uses to invade and infect cells. Epidemiology, expected results from the Response to SARS-CoV-2 (HEROS) study will reveal whether SARS-CoV-2 infection rates differ between children with asthma and other allergic conditions and those who are not allergic.
It also explains how a number of environmental factors may influence the symptoms and severity of asthma. A NIEHS-funded study published last year was the first to link reductions in emissions from coal power plants to asthma-related health benefits, including dramatic reductions in asthma symptoms and hospitalizations.
Another study supported by NIEHS reported that children with higher urinary levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in food packaging and other products, have more asthma. Additional research suggests that exposure to bisphenol F and bisphenol S chemicals, which are used as BPA substitutes, is associated with asthma and hay fever.
And the interaction between genetics and the environment also influences asthma susceptibility and severity, according to two NIEHS studies that have shown how an immune system protein called TLR5 is involved in exacerbating asthma in response to environmental exposures.
One study found that the lungs of people with TLR5 defects had significantly less inflammation following exposure to ozone than the lungs of healthy people, and a companion study of asthma patients found that participants with non-functioning TLR5 had fewer asthma symptoms when exposed to house dust.
