New Use of Inhaled Glucocorticoid Improved Asthma Outcomes for Minority Adults
The MetroHealth System is helping to put focus on a treatment that will help millions of African American and Hispanic patients who suffer from moderate-to-severe asthma.
In the United States, there are more than 3,300 asthma-attributed deaths in adults each year. Minority patients bear a disproportionate percentage of those incidences. They experience higher rates of asthma-related emergency department visits, higher rates of hospitalizations and nearly double the asthma mortality rate compared to white patients.
In the new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, African American and Hispanic patients with asthma received one-time instruction to use inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) when they used their asthma reliever (in addition to whatever medications they were taking for asthma.)
This new use of ICS, not commonly studied in minority populations, decreased the risk of severe asthma exacerbations by 15%, reduced asthma symptoms, days of work missed and hospitalizations. This is a big breakthrough for people whose asthma is not well controlled.
Minority patients are among the nearly 10,000 people who have been diagnosed with moderate-to-severe asthma in the past three years at MetroHealth.
“This research is a significant breakthrough in using existing asthma medications in a different way to improve the quality of life – decreased symptoms, days of missed work and school, and emergency department visits and hospitalization – for patients with moderate and severe asthma,” said Dr. David Kaelber, MetroHealth Principle Investigator and primary care physician and Professor of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.
MetroHealth participated as one of the top recruitment sites in the multi-centered population trial, providing more than 100 patients for the study. Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine and the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences contributed with their focused research on diseases that are prevalent in the Cleveland community.
Founded in 1837, MetroHealth is leading the way to a healthier you and a healthier community through service, teaching, discovery, and teamwork. Cuyahoga County’s public, safety-net hospital system, MetroHealth meets people where they are, providing care through five hospitals, four emergency departments and more than 20 health centers. Each day, our nearly 9,000 employees focus on providing our community with equitable healthcare — through patient-focused research, access to care, and support services — that seeks to eradicate health disparities rooted in systematic barriers. For more information, visit metrohealth.org.
