RESUMO
Asthma is a common chronic disease in children. It is a dynamic condition-symptoms change over time, and the outcome of diagnostic tests can vary. Consequently, evaluating the onset of asthma at a single point in time, perhaps when patients are asymptomatic with limited impairment of the lung function, may result in false diagnostic conclusions. The absence of consistent gold-standard diagnostic criteria in children challenges the ability of any study to ascertain an effect of treatment on asthma prevention. A comprehensive review of the diagnostic criteria used for new-onset asthma in school-age children was conducted based on existing recommendations from published clinical guidance, alongside evidence from paediatric asthma prevention trials. Findings from the review were used to propose suggestions for diagnosing new-onset asthma in future asthma prevention trials. Despite an overall lack of consensus in the published clinical guidance, there are similarities between the various recommendations for diagnosing asthma in children, which typically involve assessing the variable symptoms and supplementing the medical history with objective measures of lung function. For future paediatric asthma prevention trials, we suggest that paediatric clinical trials should use a new-onset asthma definition that incorporates the concepts of "possible", "probable" and "confirmed" asthma. "Possible" asthma would capture self-reported features of chronic symptoms and symptom relief with ß2-agonist bronchodilator (suggesting reversibility). "Probable" asthma would include symptom chronicity, self-reported symptom relief with ß2-agonist bronchodilator, and objective features of asthma (reversibility or bronchial hyper-responsiveness). A "confirmed" diagnosis would be made only if there is a positive response to controller therapy. These suggestions aim to improve the diagnosis of new-onset childhood asthma in clinical trials, which will be useful in the design and conduct of future paediatric asthma prevention trials.
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Not available.
RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Atopic dermatitis (AD) has been related to a deficiency of delta-6-desaturase, an enzyme responsible for the conversion of linoleic acid to gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). Evening primrose oil (EPO) contains high amounts of GLA. Therefore, this study investigated whether EPO supplementation results in an increase in plasma GLA and its metabolite dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) correlating with clinical improvement of AD, assessed by the SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index. METHODS: The open study included 21 patients with AD. EPO (4-6 g) was administered daily for 12 weeks. Before treatment, and 4 and 12 weeks after initiation of EPO supplementation, objective SCORAD was assessed and plasma concentrations of GLA and DGLA were determined by gas chromatography. RESULTS: A significant increase in plasma GLA and DGLA levels and a decrease in the objective SCORAD were observed 4 and 12 weeks after initiation of EPO treatment. In the per-protocol population (n = 14), a significant inverse correlation between the changes in plasma GLA levels and SCORAD was found (P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: The clinical disease activity under EPO treatment correlates with the individual increase in plasma GLA levels. Thus, the results of this pilot study indicate that an increase in plasma GLA might be used as predictive parameter for responsiveness of AD to EPO therapy.