ATS 2007, SAN FRANCISCOResearchers studying inhaled steroids and children with asthma, as well as asthma and obesity, will present new findings from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Asthma Clinical Research Networks at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, May 23rd. The session will take place from noon to 1 pm in room 131 at the Moscone Center.

Researchers from the American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Centers (ACRC) will present substudies and subgroup analyses for three ACRC studies, and will present an overview of ongoing and future ACRC studies. The ACRC presentation will take place on Sunday, May 20th from noon to 1 p.m. in room 133 at the Moscone Center.

Two of the presentations will include new research findings from the Prevention of Early Asthma in Kids (PEAK) study, which is investigating the effect of inhaled-corticosteroid therapy on children with asthma. In May 2006, PEAK researchers published findings in The New England Journal of Medicine that showed that preschool children at high risk for asthma had decreased asthma-like symptoms while on two years of inhaled-corticosteroid therapy; however, this therapy did not change the development of asthma symptoms or lung function during a third, treatment-free year.

Since then, the researchers have continued to observe the 285 children in the study, to get a more in-depth look at the changes in the lungs, including inflammation, in these children. The new PEAK results will look at the follow-up of the study, with more in-depth information about the predictors of response to inhaled steroids and long-term changes in the physiology of the lung.

Wayne Morgan, M.D., of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson, who will be presenting new data at the ATS meeting, comments, The question was, can you protect the airways by u
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Contact: Suzy Martin
smartin@thoracic.org
212-315-8631
American Thoracic Society
23-May-2007