Docs Pore Over New Asthma Guidelines

Aug. 29, 2007 — -- In a move to breathe new life into decade-old asthma guidelines, federal health officials with the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program proposed the first-ever recommendations specific to children ages 5-11.

But some physicians said that the guidelines may add little to current practice and that they are skeptical as to whether medical professionals in the field will actually comb through the 400-page document for guidance.

The new set of recommendations had its supporters. Dr. Harold Nelson, professor of medicine at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, in Denver, said, "The main message is that patients with asthma should be able to lead a normal life and these guidelines will help them achieve that."

"Hopefully … these guidelines will lead to a shift in primary care doctors' understanding that long-term control is key and to maintain close contact with the patient," said Dr. John Fahrenholz, assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

And while the guidelines created a new category of treatment for many younger patients, for most patients it encouraged doctors to focus on the symptoms of individuals rather than separating patients into broad treatment groups.

These groups "were hard to use … because [patients] just don't stay in one category," said Dr. Carl Lauter, director of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. "One of the main changes to these guidelines is the emphasis on control of asthma and … the way a patient feels."

But, according to Dr. Alan Leff, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, "Most physicians who treat asthma are unfamiliar with the guidelines, and those who know about them do not really read them."

Nelson said a briefer version of the guidelines is on the way, and it will likely be available in December.

"[The briefer version] will be much more accessible to the primary care physician," he said.