TREATING SEVERE ASTHMA IN CHILDREN BASED ON EXHALED NITRIC OXIDE
LEVELS Physicians can better determine the most effective
inhaled corticosteroid dose for children with moderate to severe
allergic asthma by measuring the nitric oxide levels in the
patient's breath, rather than by observing symptoms, according
to a study published in the first issue for October 2005 of the
American Thoracic Society's peer-reviewed American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. In the study, doctors
based their inhaled corticosteroid treatment on exhaled nitric
oxide levels, while considering symptoms, in 39 asthmatic
children who were, on average, age 12. In 46 children of
approximately the same age, inhaled corticosteroid levels were
based on symptoms alone. All the children had atopic asthma, an
allergic illness to which they have an inherited tendency.
According to the researchers, at the end of the study year, the
exhaled nitric oxide-based group did not increase their steroid
dose, yet they did reduce their i