The safe and appropriate use of long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs) for the treatment of asthma has been widely debated. In two large clinical trials, investigators found a potential risk of serious asthma-related events associated with LABAs. This study was designed to evaluate the risk of administering the LABA salmeterol in combination with an inhaled glucocorticoid, fluticasone propionate.

Methods In this multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial, adolescent and adult patients (age, ≥12 years) with persistent asthma were assigned to receive either fluticasone with salmeterol or fluticasone alone for 26 weeks. All the patients had a history of a severe asthma exacerbation in the year before randomization but not during the previous month. Patients were excluded from the trial if they had a history of life-threatening or unstable asthma. The primary safety end point was the first serious asthma-related event (death, endotracheal intubation, or hospitalization). Noninferiority of fluticasone-salmeterol to fluticasone alone was defined as an upper boundary of the 95% confidence interval for the risk of the primary safety end point of less than 2.0. The efficacy end point was the first severe asthma exacerbation.

Results Of 11,679 patients who were enrolled, 67 had 74 serious asthma-related events, with 36 events in 34 patients in the fluticasone-salmeterol group and 38 events in 33 patients in the fluticasone-only group. The hazard ratio for a serious asthma-related event in the fluticasone-salmeterol group was 1.03 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64 to 1.66), and noninferiority was achieved (P=0.003). There were no asthma-related deaths; 2 patients in the fluticasone-only group underwent asthma-related intubation. The risk of a severe asthma exacerbation was 21% lower in the fluticasone-salmeterol group than in the fluticasone-only group (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.89), with at least one severe asthma exacerbation occurring in 480 of 5834 patients (8%) in the fluticasone-salmeterol group, as compared with 597 of 5845 patients (10%) in the fluticasone-only group (P<0.001).

Conclusions Patients who received salmeterol in a fixed-dose combination with fluticasone did not have a significantly higher risk of serious asthma-related events than did those who received fluticasone alone. Patients receiving fluticasone-salmeterol had fewer severe asthma exacerbations than did those in the fluticasone-only group. (AUSTRI ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01475721 .).

There have been recent advances in the classification and management of chronic urticaria. The new term chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) has replaced chronic idiopathic urticaria and chronic autoimmune urticaria. In addition, chronic inducible urticaria (CINDU) has replaced physical urticaria and includes other forms of inducible urticaria, such as cholinergic and aquagenic urticaria. Furthermore, novel research has resulted in a new understanding with guidelines being revised in the past year by both the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) and the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI)/Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA (2)LEN)/European Dermatology Forum (EDF)/World Allergy Organization (WAO).

There are some differences in the recommendations, which will be discussed, but the core updates are common to both groups. The basic treatment for chronic urticaria involves second-generation non-sedating non-impairing H 1 antihistamines as first-line treatment. This is followed by up to a 4-fold increase in the licensed dose of these H 1 antihistamines. The major therapeutic advance in recent years has been in third-line treatment with omalizumab, a humanized monoclonal anti-immunoglobulin E (anti-IgE) antibody that prevents binding of IgE to the high-affinity IgE receptor. Several multicenter randomized controlled trials have shown safety and efficacy of omalizumab for CSU.

There are also some small studies showing efficacy of omalizumab in CINDU. While there were previously many treatment options which were lacking in strong evidence, we are moving into an era where the treatment algorithm for chronic urticaria is simplified and contains more evidence-based, effective, and less toxic treatment options.

Adenotonsillectomy (AT) is the recommended first-line treatment for pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children with adenotonsillar hypertrophy. It is now clearly established that AT results in improvement in the severity of OSA in most children. However, a significant number of OSA children undergoing AT exhibit residual persistent OSA post-surgery. Patients at increased risk of persistent OSA include those with severe disease at initial review, older or obese patients, children with underlying asthma or allergic rhinitis, and those who have concurrent underlying medical conditions, such as Trisomy 21, craniofacial syndromes or cerebral palsy. Here, we aim to highlight recent research findings into those who have persistent OSA disease, and suggest a practical approach to the management of these children.

Obesity is a risk factor for asthma, but obese asthmatics respond poorly to standard asthma drugs. Obesity also alters gut bacterial community structure. Obesity-related changes in gut bacteria contribute to weight gain and to other obesity-related conditions including insulin resistance and systemic inflammation. Here we review the rationale for the hypothesis that obesity-related changes in gut bacteria may also play a role in obesity-related asthma. The metabolomes of the liver, serum, urine, and adipose tissue are altered in obesity.

Gut bacteria produce a large number of metabolites which can reach the blood and circulate to other organs, and gut bacterial derived metabolites have been shown to contribute to disease processes outside the gastrointestinal tract, including cardiovascular disease. Here we describe the potential roles for two such classes of metabolites in obesity-related asthma: short chain fatty acids and bile acids. Greater understanding of the role of microbiota in obesity-related asthma could lead to novel microbiota based treatments for these hard to treat patients.