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U.S. Surgeon General Joins the American Lung Association to Address Unmet Needs of Asthma in the U.S.

Posted on: Monday, 2 May 2005, 12:00 CDT

WASHINGTON, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Today a group of the nation's leading asthma experts joined the American Lung Association and Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS., Surgeon General of the United States, to highlight the issue of uncontrolled asthma in the U.S. Currently 20 million Americans have asthma and more than 11 million of them do not have their asthma under control despite existing guidelines for the diagnosis and management of the disease.

Surgeon General Carmona, the keynote speaker at today's briefing, is focusing on asthma prevention and control as part of his 2005 agenda "The Year of the Healthy Child."

"Uncontrolled asthma is an under-recognized health problem that has significant impact on patients and their families. Millions of children and adults are not effectively controlling their asthma. This results in missed school days and missed work, more emergency room visits, more hospitalizations, and life-threatening asthma attacks. However, this is a problem that can be overcome," said Dr. Carmona. "There is no cure for asthma, but it is a highly manageable condition if patients and healthcare professionals work together to control symptoms."

"The first step is to recognize the signs of uncontrolled asthma," added Carmona. "These signs include needing to use a rescue inhaler more than twice a week or having asthma symptoms frequently during the day or night. To help control asthma symptoms and severity, I urge everyone with asthma and every parent of a child with asthma to talk with a healthcare professional and follow an asthma control action plan."

How to Better Control Asthma

John Kirkwood, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Lung Association, reinforced the Surgeon General's comments and discussed the American Lung Association's commitment to help people with asthma achieve optimal asthma control. He spoke of the asthma education campaign, Know Your Asthma Score & Expect More, the centerpiece of which is a validated, objective assessment tool, the Asthma Control Test(TM) (ACT). The ACT is five simple questions which can help patients better understand how their asthma affects them. Answers to the ACT provide asthma patients with a score that they should discuss with their healthcare professionals that may help determine if their current treatment plan is working. The American Lung Association supports the ACT and recommends that everyone 12 and older with asthma take it no matter how well controlled they think their asthma is.

Kirkwood also discussed preliminary data showing that, since its introduction online in March of this year, more than 62,000 people have taken the ACT, and of those, 63 percent had results indicating that their asthma is not as controlled as it could be. Patients are being urged to share their test results with their healthcare provider to ensure they are on the most appropriate treatment plan.

"The ACT is a critical tool in the ongoing battle to improve asthma control in the U.S.," said John Kirkwood. "The ACT can help patients think about how frequently they experience asthma symptoms and how often asthma interferes with their daily activities -- answers to the ACT can also help improve the dialogue between patient and healthcare provider, which can lead to better asthma management."

A free copy of the ACT is available by calling 1-800-990-4100 or visiting http://www.asthmacontrol.com/ .

Adherence to Guidelines

Carlos Camargo, M.D., Dr.P.H, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Director of the Emergency Medicine Network (EMNet) Coordinating Center at Massachusetts General Hospital discussed the significant consequences of uncontrolled asthma, such as overuse of rescue inhalers, increased emergency care visits, hospitalizations and death. He emphasized that despite the existence of government treatment guidelines, outcomes suggest that they are not adequately applied as evidenced by nearly two million emergency room visits for asthma each year.

"Treating asthma in the emergency department is not a good long-term strategy," stated Dr. Camargo. "Studies have shown that many patients do not understand the severity and unpredictability of their asthma and treat only their symptoms and not the underlying inflammation. In addition to a prescription for albuterol -- a rescue inhaler used for asthma attacks -- there needs to be more emphasis throughout the health care system on the daily preventive medicines that prevent emergency visits from occurring."

Camargo added that proper asthma education for patients and an ongoing assessment of asthma symptoms can greatly improve asthma control.

Asthma and African-Americans

Michael LeNoir, MD, FAAP, Vice-Speaker, House of Delegates, National Medical Association (NMA) and Chairperson of the Asthma and Allergy Initiative, spoke about racial differences in asthma, and shared the NMA's commitment to improve quality of care and disease management in the African American community and to improve the expectations of African-American and other consumers with regard to asthma outcomes. He outlined the NMA's Clear the Air educational initiative, targeted at healthcare professionals treating African Americans with asthma and focused on strategies for assessing and managing the disease using treatment guidelines. Research has shown that African-Americans are three times more likely than Caucasians to die from asthma -- one reason is the poor management of asthma as a chronic condition.

"Many African-Americans visit the emergency department to treat their asthma," said Dr. Lenoir. "With better education and objective assessment tools that are easy to use and easy to access, we can strive to change the way asthma is treated in all at-risk populations."

One Patient's Success Story

Jerome Bettis, running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers and asthma patient for nearly 20 years, shared his experience with asthma after being diagnosed at age 14. Bettis was using rescue medication to treat sudden symptoms and thought his asthma was under control. In 1997, however, he suffered a major asthma attack during a nationally televised football game. Rather than retire, Jerome worked with his doctor to develop an action plan to manage his asthma and learned how to help keep his asthma under control by preventing symptoms.

"I've experienced first-hand the consequences of uncontrolled asthma," said Jerome Bettis, fifth all-time leading rusher in the National Football League (NFL). "Controlling symptoms allows you to stay active and do more of the things you want to do, which for me is playing football."

ABOUT THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION

For 100 years, the American Lung Association has been the lead organization working to prevent lung disease and promote lung health. Lung disease death rates continue to increase while other leading causes of death have declined. The American Lung Association funds vital research on the causes of and treatments for lung disease. With the generous support of the public, the American Lung Association is "Improving life, one breath at a time." For more information about the American Lung Association or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or log on to http://www.lungusa.org/ . The American Lung Association does not endorse products.

Support for this press event was provided by GlaxoSmithKline. The American Lung Association and GlaxoSmithKline are working together on the Know Your Asthma Score campaign to promote asthma awareness. GlaxoSmithKline is a research-based pharmaceutical company and a world leader in respiratory care.

Asthma Control Test is a trademark of QualityMetric Incorporated.

American Lung Association

CONTACT: Diane Maple of American Lung Association, +1-202-785-3355, orLiz Frank of Cohn & Wolfe, +1-212-798-9734

Web site: http://www.asthmacontrol.com/http://www.lungusa.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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