The Cost of Corticosteroid Choice in Acute Asthma

Investigators from the Medical University of South Carolina conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing a 2-day dexamethasone regimen with a 5-day prednisone regimen for treatment of children discharged from the emergency department (ED) with an acute asthma exacerbation. Decision analysis modeling was used to evaluate direct and indirect cost savings. Three separate models were created: a 5-day prednisone course, a 2-day dexamethasone course with dispensation of the second dose of dexamethasone in the ED (dexamethasone/dispense), and a 2-day dexamethasone course with a prescription for the second dose (dexamethasone/prescription).....

Source: aapgrandrounds.aappublications.org



One in five kids in parts of St. Louis area struggles with asthma

Nurse Lisa Meadows works on a mobile medical van that visits the area’s elementary schools where as many as 25 percent of the students have asthma.
“Many children are walking around very sick,” but they don’t know they don’t have to be, Meadows said. “It’s not unusual for me to see severe obstruction in children who think it’s normal for them to have to stop running and playing in gym class.”.....

Continue reading at: stltoday.com



Asthma reduced in Boston public housing

Getting the vermin out of ­Boston’s public housing may have improved living conditions in more ways than one: With the move has come a sharp drop in asthma symptoms among residents.....

Read more: bostonglobe.com