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When atopic dermatitis is really contact dermatitis
ATLANTA – When patients present with atopic dermatitis that worsens, changes distribution, fails to improve, or immediately rebounds, think contact dermatitis, Luz Fonacier, MD, advised at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Clinical signs of contact dermatitis include lesions with an atypical distribution/pattern, such as head, eyelid, or cheilitis/perioral predominance, or lesions on the hand or foot. Also elevate your suspicion in patients with therapy-resistant hand eczema, adult- or childhood-onset atopic dermatitis without childhood eczema, as well as in cases of severe or widespread dermatitis prior to initiating a systemic immunosuppressant. The list of potential allergens to consider includes metal (especially nickel, cobalt, and potassium dichromate), fragrances such as formaldehyde and balsam of Peru, preservatives, as well as topical emollients, corticosteroids, antibiotics, and antiseptics.
Dr. Fonacier, professor of medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and section head of allergy at Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, N.Y., recommends loading acrylates, fragrances, and allergens in an aqueous vehicle immediately before application. She noted that delayed patch test readings are common to metals, topical antibiotics, and topical corticosteroids, and that positive reactions to gold are often not clinically relevant. “The patch test positivity of gold can be as high as 30% in adults and a little bit less in children, but results from two large studies show clinical relevance in only 10%-15% of cases,” she said. A trial of gold avoidance may be warranted in patients with suspected jewelry allergy, facial or eyelid dermatitis, or exposure through gold dental restorations.
She went on to share tips for reading skin patch tests. The first reading should be done after 48 hours, while the second should be done 3, 4, or 7 days after application. “The second reading helps distinguish irritant from allergic responses,” she said. “Thirty percent of negative tests at 48 hours may be positive on delayed readings.” Most true allergic reactions occur between 72 and 96 hours. Allergens that may peak early include thiuram mix, carba mix, and balsam of Peru. Those that disappear after 5 days include balsam of Peru, benzoic acid, disperse blue #124, fragrance mix, mercury, methyldibromo glutaronitrile, phenoxyethanol, and octyl gallate. Delayed patch test reactions after five days include metals (gold potassium dichromate, nickel, and cobalt), topical antibiotics (neomycin and bacitracin) as well as topic corticosteroids.
Resources she recommended to attendees include the American Contact Dermatitis Society and the Contact Dermatitis Institute. Health and safety information about household products can be found here.
Dr. Fonacier disclosed that she has received research and educational grants from Baxter and Genentech. She is also a consultant to Church and Dwight and Regeneron.
ATLANTA – When patients present with atopic dermatitis that worsens, changes distribution, fails to improve, or immediately rebounds, think contact dermatitis, Luz Fonacier, MD, advised at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Clinical signs of contact dermatitis include lesions with an atypical distribution/pattern, such as head, eyelid, or cheilitis/perioral predominance, or lesions on the hand or foot. Also elevate your suspicion in patients with therapy-resistant hand eczema, adult- or childhood-onset atopic dermatitis without childhood eczema, as well as in cases of severe or widespread dermatitis prior to initiating a systemic immunosuppressant. The list of potential allergens to consider includes metal (especially nickel, cobalt, and potassium dichromate), fragrances such as formaldehyde and balsam of Peru, preservatives, as well as topical emollients, corticosteroids, antibiotics, and antiseptics.
Dr. Fonacier, professor of medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and section head of allergy at Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, N.Y., recommends loading acrylates, fragrances, and allergens in an aqueous vehicle immediately before application. She noted that delayed patch test readings are common to metals, topical antibiotics, and topical corticosteroids, and that positive reactions to gold are often not clinically relevant. “The patch test positivity of gold can be as high as 30% in adults and a little bit less in children, but results from two large studies show clinical relevance in only 10%-15% of cases,” she said. A trial of gold avoidance may be warranted in patients with suspected jewelry allergy, facial or eyelid dermatitis, or exposure through gold dental restorations.
She went on to share tips for reading skin patch tests. The first reading should be done after 48 hours, while the second should be done 3, 4, or 7 days after application. “The second reading helps distinguish irritant from allergic responses,” she said. “Thirty percent of negative tests at 48 hours may be positive on delayed readings.” Most true allergic reactions occur between 72 and 96 hours. Allergens that may peak early include thiuram mix, carba mix, and balsam of Peru. Those that disappear after 5 days include balsam of Peru, benzoic acid, disperse blue #124, fragrance mix, mercury, methyldibromo glutaronitrile, phenoxyethanol, and octyl gallate. Delayed patch test reactions after five days include metals (gold potassium dichromate, nickel, and cobalt), topical antibiotics (neomycin and bacitracin) as well as topic corticosteroids.
Resources she recommended to attendees include the American Contact Dermatitis Society and the Contact Dermatitis Institute. Health and safety information about household products can be found here.
Dr. Fonacier disclosed that she has received research and educational grants from Baxter and Genentech. She is also a consultant to Church and Dwight and Regeneron.
ATLANTA – When patients present with atopic dermatitis that worsens, changes distribution, fails to improve, or immediately rebounds, think contact dermatitis, Luz Fonacier, MD, advised at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Clinical signs of contact dermatitis include lesions with an atypical distribution/pattern, such as head, eyelid, or cheilitis/perioral predominance, or lesions on the hand or foot. Also elevate your suspicion in patients with therapy-resistant hand eczema, adult- or childhood-onset atopic dermatitis without childhood eczema, as well as in cases of severe or widespread dermatitis prior to initiating a systemic immunosuppressant. The list of potential allergens to consider includes metal (especially nickel, cobalt, and potassium dichromate), fragrances such as formaldehyde and balsam of Peru, preservatives, as well as topical emollients, corticosteroids, antibiotics, and antiseptics.
Dr. Fonacier, professor of medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and section head of allergy at Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, N.Y., recommends loading acrylates, fragrances, and allergens in an aqueous vehicle immediately before application. She noted that delayed patch test readings are common to metals, topical antibiotics, and topical corticosteroids, and that positive reactions to gold are often not clinically relevant. “The patch test positivity of gold can be as high as 30% in adults and a little bit less in children, but results from two large studies show clinical relevance in only 10%-15% of cases,” she said. A trial of gold avoidance may be warranted in patients with suspected jewelry allergy, facial or eyelid dermatitis, or exposure through gold dental restorations.
She went on to share tips for reading skin patch tests. The first reading should be done after 48 hours, while the second should be done 3, 4, or 7 days after application. “The second reading helps distinguish irritant from allergic responses,” she said. “Thirty percent of negative tests at 48 hours may be positive on delayed readings.” Most true allergic reactions occur between 72 and 96 hours. Allergens that may peak early include thiuram mix, carba mix, and balsam of Peru. Those that disappear after 5 days include balsam of Peru, benzoic acid, disperse blue #124, fragrance mix, mercury, methyldibromo glutaronitrile, phenoxyethanol, and octyl gallate. Delayed patch test reactions after five days include metals (gold potassium dichromate, nickel, and cobalt), topical antibiotics (neomycin and bacitracin) as well as topic corticosteroids.
Resources she recommended to attendees include the American Contact Dermatitis Society and the Contact Dermatitis Institute. Health and safety information about household products can be found here.
Dr. Fonacier disclosed that she has received research and educational grants from Baxter and Genentech. She is also a consultant to Church and Dwight and Regeneron.
EXPERT ANALYSIS AT THE 2017 AAAAI ANNUAL MEETING
Long-term peanut sublingual immunotherapy found safe
ATLANTA – Peanut sublingual immunotherapy induces clinically significant desensitization in the majority of subjects and can induce sustained unresponsiveness in a subset of children treated for 36-60 months, results from a small study suggest.
“Sublingual immunotherapy [SLIT] is an easy-to-administer treatment that appears to be safe, and with extended treatment, may provide a clinically significant amount of protection with the potential for a lasting effect,” one of the study authors, Edwin H. Kim, MD, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
To find out, the researchers treated 37 patients with 2 mg of peanut SLIT for 36-60 months and then assessed a 5,000-mg peanut oral food challenge to further assess desensitization. Those who passed the challenge discontinued SLIT for 2-4 weeks and were then re-challenged with 5,000 mg of peanut protein to assess for sustained unresponsiveness.
“Existing data suggested that about 50% of patients on oral immunotherapy develop sustained unresponsiveness, which was defined by being able to tolerate the same full amount of peanut 1 month after stopping therapy,” Dr. Kim said. “As the assumption was that SLIT would have a more modest effect, it was unclear if any patients at all on SLIT would develop sustained unresponsiveness.”
Of the 37 subjects who completed the study, 32 (86%) safely ingested more than 300 mg of peanut and 12 (32%) passed the oral food challenge at the end of SLIT therapy. The median amount of peanut tolerated was 1,750 mg (compared with 1,710 mg in the original 12-month paper). The 12 subjects who passed the oral food challenge were re-challenged with 5,000 mg of peanut 2-4 weeks after discontinuing SLIT. Of these, 10 (27%) demonstrated sustained unresponsiveness. Dr. Kim characterized the results as “better than we would have expected.”
He acknowledged certain limitations to the study, including the lack of an entry food challenge to determine a baseline reaction threshold and the lack of a placebo arm for the study’s extended maintenance phase.
Dr. Kim reported having no financial disclosures.
dbrunk@frontlinemedcom.com
ATLANTA – Peanut sublingual immunotherapy induces clinically significant desensitization in the majority of subjects and can induce sustained unresponsiveness in a subset of children treated for 36-60 months, results from a small study suggest.
“Sublingual immunotherapy [SLIT] is an easy-to-administer treatment that appears to be safe, and with extended treatment, may provide a clinically significant amount of protection with the potential for a lasting effect,” one of the study authors, Edwin H. Kim, MD, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
To find out, the researchers treated 37 patients with 2 mg of peanut SLIT for 36-60 months and then assessed a 5,000-mg peanut oral food challenge to further assess desensitization. Those who passed the challenge discontinued SLIT for 2-4 weeks and were then re-challenged with 5,000 mg of peanut protein to assess for sustained unresponsiveness.
“Existing data suggested that about 50% of patients on oral immunotherapy develop sustained unresponsiveness, which was defined by being able to tolerate the same full amount of peanut 1 month after stopping therapy,” Dr. Kim said. “As the assumption was that SLIT would have a more modest effect, it was unclear if any patients at all on SLIT would develop sustained unresponsiveness.”
Of the 37 subjects who completed the study, 32 (86%) safely ingested more than 300 mg of peanut and 12 (32%) passed the oral food challenge at the end of SLIT therapy. The median amount of peanut tolerated was 1,750 mg (compared with 1,710 mg in the original 12-month paper). The 12 subjects who passed the oral food challenge were re-challenged with 5,000 mg of peanut 2-4 weeks after discontinuing SLIT. Of these, 10 (27%) demonstrated sustained unresponsiveness. Dr. Kim characterized the results as “better than we would have expected.”
He acknowledged certain limitations to the study, including the lack of an entry food challenge to determine a baseline reaction threshold and the lack of a placebo arm for the study’s extended maintenance phase.
Dr. Kim reported having no financial disclosures.
dbrunk@frontlinemedcom.com
ATLANTA – Peanut sublingual immunotherapy induces clinically significant desensitization in the majority of subjects and can induce sustained unresponsiveness in a subset of children treated for 36-60 months, results from a small study suggest.
“Sublingual immunotherapy [SLIT] is an easy-to-administer treatment that appears to be safe, and with extended treatment, may provide a clinically significant amount of protection with the potential for a lasting effect,” one of the study authors, Edwin H. Kim, MD, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
To find out, the researchers treated 37 patients with 2 mg of peanut SLIT for 36-60 months and then assessed a 5,000-mg peanut oral food challenge to further assess desensitization. Those who passed the challenge discontinued SLIT for 2-4 weeks and were then re-challenged with 5,000 mg of peanut protein to assess for sustained unresponsiveness.
“Existing data suggested that about 50% of patients on oral immunotherapy develop sustained unresponsiveness, which was defined by being able to tolerate the same full amount of peanut 1 month after stopping therapy,” Dr. Kim said. “As the assumption was that SLIT would have a more modest effect, it was unclear if any patients at all on SLIT would develop sustained unresponsiveness.”
Of the 37 subjects who completed the study, 32 (86%) safely ingested more than 300 mg of peanut and 12 (32%) passed the oral food challenge at the end of SLIT therapy. The median amount of peanut tolerated was 1,750 mg (compared with 1,710 mg in the original 12-month paper). The 12 subjects who passed the oral food challenge were re-challenged with 5,000 mg of peanut 2-4 weeks after discontinuing SLIT. Of these, 10 (27%) demonstrated sustained unresponsiveness. Dr. Kim characterized the results as “better than we would have expected.”
He acknowledged certain limitations to the study, including the lack of an entry food challenge to determine a baseline reaction threshold and the lack of a placebo arm for the study’s extended maintenance phase.
Dr. Kim reported having no financial disclosures.
dbrunk@frontlinemedcom.com
AT THE 2017 AAAAI ANNUAL MEETING
Key clinical point:
Major finding: Of the children who completed the study, 86% safely ingested more than 300 mg of peanut and 32% passed the oral food challenge at the end of SLIT therapy.
Data source: A study of 37 patients who were treated with 2 mg of peanut SLIT for 36-60 months.
Disclosures: Dr. Kim reported having no financial disclosures.
Uptick found in severe allergy shot reactions
ATLANTA – Systemic reactions against subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy have trended down overall in recent years, but there has been an uptick in reports of severe grade 4 reactions for reasons that are not yet clear, according to a review of 46.6 million injection office visits from 2008-2015.
The data come from annual surveys of members of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, of whom 27%-51% responded each year.
However, on surveys from 2013 to 2015, one grade 4 reaction – hypotension or respiratory failure – was reported for every 160,000 injection visits, up from one per million office visits in previous years. Two-thirds (152/252) of grade 3/4 systemic reactions (SRs) for 2014-2015 occurred in asthmatics. Among the three fatalities directly linked to allergy shots since 2008, all of them occurred in adults; two patients had asthma. The findings highlight the need for good asthma control before shots begin, with a forced expiratory volume of at least 70% in 1 second (J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2017 Feb;139[2]:AB377).
“Asthma remains a major risk factor for severe SRs... [It’s something] allergists need to be vigilant about,” said lead investigator Tolly Epstein, MD, an assistant professor of immunology at the University of Cincinnati.
It’s unclear if there has been a true increase in severe reactions, or simply better reporting of them since the reaction grading system started being used a few years ago. “I was surprised a little bit to see the uptick in severe systemic reactions, but I am not sure if it’s real yet,” Dr. Epstein said. She and her colleagues are collecting more data on the reports of severe reactions.
Dr. Epstein and her colleagues found in previous work that higher maintenance doses may increase the risk of SRs. The right balance between efficacy and safety is still being worked out, she said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
The surveys started collecting data on infections from allergy shots in 2014, amid concerns about contaminants in compounded medications. The fact that none were reported probably isn’t a surprise to allergists, but it might be news to others who have raised concerns about the possibility, Dr. Epstein said.
Overall safety was good for sublingual allergen immunotherapy, first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014. One of the grade 3 reactions was pharyngeal edema; the other involved throat tightening and lower respiratory symptoms.
One of the asthma patients who died was morbidly obese and under treatment for weed allergies during pollen season, and died from overwhelming laryngeal edema. The patient’s weight made IV access difficult. The other asthma patient had severe disease, and was on the maximum dose of fluticasone/salmeterol. He was on an accelerated buildup for dust mites, pollen, mold, and other allergies, and apparently died of asthma complications triggered by the shots. There were no known risk factors in the third death.
Mortalities are lower than they used to be in the past with allergy shots, Dr. Epstein said.
She said she had no relevant disclosures.
aotto@frontlinemedcom.com
ATLANTA – Systemic reactions against subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy have trended down overall in recent years, but there has been an uptick in reports of severe grade 4 reactions for reasons that are not yet clear, according to a review of 46.6 million injection office visits from 2008-2015.
The data come from annual surveys of members of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, of whom 27%-51% responded each year.
However, on surveys from 2013 to 2015, one grade 4 reaction – hypotension or respiratory failure – was reported for every 160,000 injection visits, up from one per million office visits in previous years. Two-thirds (152/252) of grade 3/4 systemic reactions (SRs) for 2014-2015 occurred in asthmatics. Among the three fatalities directly linked to allergy shots since 2008, all of them occurred in adults; two patients had asthma. The findings highlight the need for good asthma control before shots begin, with a forced expiratory volume of at least 70% in 1 second (J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2017 Feb;139[2]:AB377).
“Asthma remains a major risk factor for severe SRs... [It’s something] allergists need to be vigilant about,” said lead investigator Tolly Epstein, MD, an assistant professor of immunology at the University of Cincinnati.
It’s unclear if there has been a true increase in severe reactions, or simply better reporting of them since the reaction grading system started being used a few years ago. “I was surprised a little bit to see the uptick in severe systemic reactions, but I am not sure if it’s real yet,” Dr. Epstein said. She and her colleagues are collecting more data on the reports of severe reactions.
Dr. Epstein and her colleagues found in previous work that higher maintenance doses may increase the risk of SRs. The right balance between efficacy and safety is still being worked out, she said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
The surveys started collecting data on infections from allergy shots in 2014, amid concerns about contaminants in compounded medications. The fact that none were reported probably isn’t a surprise to allergists, but it might be news to others who have raised concerns about the possibility, Dr. Epstein said.
Overall safety was good for sublingual allergen immunotherapy, first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014. One of the grade 3 reactions was pharyngeal edema; the other involved throat tightening and lower respiratory symptoms.
One of the asthma patients who died was morbidly obese and under treatment for weed allergies during pollen season, and died from overwhelming laryngeal edema. The patient’s weight made IV access difficult. The other asthma patient had severe disease, and was on the maximum dose of fluticasone/salmeterol. He was on an accelerated buildup for dust mites, pollen, mold, and other allergies, and apparently died of asthma complications triggered by the shots. There were no known risk factors in the third death.
Mortalities are lower than they used to be in the past with allergy shots, Dr. Epstein said.
She said she had no relevant disclosures.
aotto@frontlinemedcom.com
ATLANTA – Systemic reactions against subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy have trended down overall in recent years, but there has been an uptick in reports of severe grade 4 reactions for reasons that are not yet clear, according to a review of 46.6 million injection office visits from 2008-2015.
The data come from annual surveys of members of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, of whom 27%-51% responded each year.
However, on surveys from 2013 to 2015, one grade 4 reaction – hypotension or respiratory failure – was reported for every 160,000 injection visits, up from one per million office visits in previous years. Two-thirds (152/252) of grade 3/4 systemic reactions (SRs) for 2014-2015 occurred in asthmatics. Among the three fatalities directly linked to allergy shots since 2008, all of them occurred in adults; two patients had asthma. The findings highlight the need for good asthma control before shots begin, with a forced expiratory volume of at least 70% in 1 second (J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2017 Feb;139[2]:AB377).
“Asthma remains a major risk factor for severe SRs... [It’s something] allergists need to be vigilant about,” said lead investigator Tolly Epstein, MD, an assistant professor of immunology at the University of Cincinnati.
It’s unclear if there has been a true increase in severe reactions, or simply better reporting of them since the reaction grading system started being used a few years ago. “I was surprised a little bit to see the uptick in severe systemic reactions, but I am not sure if it’s real yet,” Dr. Epstein said. She and her colleagues are collecting more data on the reports of severe reactions.
Dr. Epstein and her colleagues found in previous work that higher maintenance doses may increase the risk of SRs. The right balance between efficacy and safety is still being worked out, she said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
The surveys started collecting data on infections from allergy shots in 2014, amid concerns about contaminants in compounded medications. The fact that none were reported probably isn’t a surprise to allergists, but it might be news to others who have raised concerns about the possibility, Dr. Epstein said.
Overall safety was good for sublingual allergen immunotherapy, first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014. One of the grade 3 reactions was pharyngeal edema; the other involved throat tightening and lower respiratory symptoms.
One of the asthma patients who died was morbidly obese and under treatment for weed allergies during pollen season, and died from overwhelming laryngeal edema. The patient’s weight made IV access difficult. The other asthma patient had severe disease, and was on the maximum dose of fluticasone/salmeterol. He was on an accelerated buildup for dust mites, pollen, mold, and other allergies, and apparently died of asthma complications triggered by the shots. There were no known risk factors in the third death.
Mortalities are lower than they used to be in the past with allergy shots, Dr. Epstein said.
She said she had no relevant disclosures.
aotto@frontlinemedcom.com
AT THE 2017 AAAAI ANNUAL MEETING
Key clinical point: for reasons that are not yet clear, according to a review of 46.6 million injection office visits from 2008-2015.
Major finding: On surveys from 2013 to 2015, one grade 4 reaction – hypotension or respiratory failure – was reported for every 160,000 injection visits, up from one per million office visits in previous years. Two-thirds (152/252) of grade 3/4 systemic reactions for 2014-2015 occurred in patients with asthma.
Data source: Allergist surveys from 2008 to 2015.
Disclosures: The lead investigator said she had no relevant disclosures.
Chronic rhinosinusitis exacerbation factors identified
ATLANTA – Clinical factors associated with acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis include female sex, nonwhite race, and a higher body mass index, results from a retrospective study suggest.
“Previous research has shown associations between various risk factors and the development of chronic rhinosinusitis,” study author Jason H. Kwah, MD, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. “However, there is minimal data regarding risk factor associations with frequent acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis. This is an important question as much of the morbidity and financial burden of this disease stems from costs and symptoms related to the management of acute exacerbations with antibiotics and steroids. If associations can be identified, the hope would be that modification of some of these risk factors could lead to improved control of the condition.”
Of the 3,109 CRS patients, 936 were frequent exacerbators while 2,173 were infrequent exacerbators. Univariate analysis revealed that the following factors were associated with frequent exacerbations, compared with infrequent exacerbations: female sex, nonwhite race, higher body mass index, having any drug allergy, allergic rhinitis, peripheral eosinophilia, asthma, lower forced expiratory volume in 1 second, previous sinus surgery, severe sinusitis on CT, one or more steroid prescriptions, and the presence of autoimmune disease. Multivariate analysis adjusted for race and sex revealed that allergic rhinitis (odds ratio, 1.48), peripheral eosinophilia (OR, 1.30), asthma (OR, 1.90), and autoimmune disease (OR, 1.61) remained significantly associated with frequent CRS exacerbations.
“We found it surprising that there were so many risk factors associated with frequent acute exacerbations of CRS, as well as the strengths of these associations,” Dr. Kwah said. “Acute exacerbations of CRS cause significant morbidity and financial burden, and based on the results of our study, are likely associated with many clinically relevant risk factors. Further study is needed to confirm the presence of these associations, study the mechanism of disease, and ultimately establish treatment protocols that can improve the control of frequent acute exacerbations of CRS.”
He acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including the challenges of establishing an accurate definition for acute exacerbations of CRS in a retrospective study. “While we felt our protocol for retrospective analysis was sufficient given our inclusion criteria, a prospective trial would be helpful in further delineating the presence of acute exacerbations of CRS and how they are associated with clinical risk factors,” he said.
The study was supported in part by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Integrative Studies Program, the Ernest Bazley Foundation, and the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Kwah reported having no financial disclosures.
dbrunk@frontlinemedcom.com
ATLANTA – Clinical factors associated with acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis include female sex, nonwhite race, and a higher body mass index, results from a retrospective study suggest.
“Previous research has shown associations between various risk factors and the development of chronic rhinosinusitis,” study author Jason H. Kwah, MD, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. “However, there is minimal data regarding risk factor associations with frequent acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis. This is an important question as much of the morbidity and financial burden of this disease stems from costs and symptoms related to the management of acute exacerbations with antibiotics and steroids. If associations can be identified, the hope would be that modification of some of these risk factors could lead to improved control of the condition.”
Of the 3,109 CRS patients, 936 were frequent exacerbators while 2,173 were infrequent exacerbators. Univariate analysis revealed that the following factors were associated with frequent exacerbations, compared with infrequent exacerbations: female sex, nonwhite race, higher body mass index, having any drug allergy, allergic rhinitis, peripheral eosinophilia, asthma, lower forced expiratory volume in 1 second, previous sinus surgery, severe sinusitis on CT, one or more steroid prescriptions, and the presence of autoimmune disease. Multivariate analysis adjusted for race and sex revealed that allergic rhinitis (odds ratio, 1.48), peripheral eosinophilia (OR, 1.30), asthma (OR, 1.90), and autoimmune disease (OR, 1.61) remained significantly associated with frequent CRS exacerbations.
“We found it surprising that there were so many risk factors associated with frequent acute exacerbations of CRS, as well as the strengths of these associations,” Dr. Kwah said. “Acute exacerbations of CRS cause significant morbidity and financial burden, and based on the results of our study, are likely associated with many clinically relevant risk factors. Further study is needed to confirm the presence of these associations, study the mechanism of disease, and ultimately establish treatment protocols that can improve the control of frequent acute exacerbations of CRS.”
He acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including the challenges of establishing an accurate definition for acute exacerbations of CRS in a retrospective study. “While we felt our protocol for retrospective analysis was sufficient given our inclusion criteria, a prospective trial would be helpful in further delineating the presence of acute exacerbations of CRS and how they are associated with clinical risk factors,” he said.
The study was supported in part by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Integrative Studies Program, the Ernest Bazley Foundation, and the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Kwah reported having no financial disclosures.
dbrunk@frontlinemedcom.com
ATLANTA – Clinical factors associated with acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis include female sex, nonwhite race, and a higher body mass index, results from a retrospective study suggest.
“Previous research has shown associations between various risk factors and the development of chronic rhinosinusitis,” study author Jason H. Kwah, MD, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. “However, there is minimal data regarding risk factor associations with frequent acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis. This is an important question as much of the morbidity and financial burden of this disease stems from costs and symptoms related to the management of acute exacerbations with antibiotics and steroids. If associations can be identified, the hope would be that modification of some of these risk factors could lead to improved control of the condition.”
Of the 3,109 CRS patients, 936 were frequent exacerbators while 2,173 were infrequent exacerbators. Univariate analysis revealed that the following factors were associated with frequent exacerbations, compared with infrequent exacerbations: female sex, nonwhite race, higher body mass index, having any drug allergy, allergic rhinitis, peripheral eosinophilia, asthma, lower forced expiratory volume in 1 second, previous sinus surgery, severe sinusitis on CT, one or more steroid prescriptions, and the presence of autoimmune disease. Multivariate analysis adjusted for race and sex revealed that allergic rhinitis (odds ratio, 1.48), peripheral eosinophilia (OR, 1.30), asthma (OR, 1.90), and autoimmune disease (OR, 1.61) remained significantly associated with frequent CRS exacerbations.
“We found it surprising that there were so many risk factors associated with frequent acute exacerbations of CRS, as well as the strengths of these associations,” Dr. Kwah said. “Acute exacerbations of CRS cause significant morbidity and financial burden, and based on the results of our study, are likely associated with many clinically relevant risk factors. Further study is needed to confirm the presence of these associations, study the mechanism of disease, and ultimately establish treatment protocols that can improve the control of frequent acute exacerbations of CRS.”
He acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including the challenges of establishing an accurate definition for acute exacerbations of CRS in a retrospective study. “While we felt our protocol for retrospective analysis was sufficient given our inclusion criteria, a prospective trial would be helpful in further delineating the presence of acute exacerbations of CRS and how they are associated with clinical risk factors,” he said.
The study was supported in part by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Integrative Studies Program, the Ernest Bazley Foundation, and the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Kwah reported having no financial disclosures.
dbrunk@frontlinemedcom.com
AT THE 2017 AAAAI ANNUAL MEETING
Key clinical point:
Major finding: On multivariate analysis, allergic rhinitis (odds ratio, 1.48), peripheral eosinophilia (OR, 1.30), asthma (OR, 1.90), and autoimmune disease (OR, 1.61) remained significantly associated with frequent CRS exacerbations.
Data source: A retrospective review of 3,109 patients who were treated for CRS from January 2014 to December 2015.
Disclosures: The study was supported in part by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Integrative Studies Program, the Ernest Bazley Foundation, and the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Kwah reported having no financial disclosures.
Maternal vitamin E isoform levels possible marker for infant wheezing risk
ATLANTA – Increasing maternal postpartum–plasma alpha-tocopherol isoform concentration was associated with a decreased likelihood of wheezing at age 2 years, defined as wheezing in the past 12 months, use of asthma medications in the past 12 months, or diagnosis of asthma, results from a large analysis showed.
“For now, this is an association and not causation,” study author Cosby Stone, MD, MPH, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. “We need a clinical trial to evaluate the effect of giving more alpha-tocopherol to mothers during pregnancy before anyone should jump to giving supplements.”
The median age of children at the time of maternal sample collection was 50 days. 47% were female, and 61% were white. Of the 652 children, 167 (26%) met criteria for wheezing at age 2 years. These children had mothers with significantly lower postpartum concentrations of plasma alpha-tocopherol, compared with those who did not meet criteria for wheezing at 2 years (a mean of 69 micromol/L vs. 75 micromol/L, respectively; P = .02). In multivariable regression analysis, the researchers detected a significant interaction between gamma-tocopherol and alpha-tocopherol, where the highest amounts of maternal gamma-tocopherol modified and mitigated the protective association of maternal alpha-tocopherol with risk of wheezing at 2 years (P = .05).
Dr. Stone cautioned that, what is currently labeled as vitamin E or alpha-tocopherol in foods and supplements, “could be any of eight different isoforms, and alpha-tocopherol may not actually be the dominant isoform being provided. In addition, the oils that we eat are the main sources of tocopherols in our diet, and they vary widely in terms of their tocopherol isoforms. Sunflower and safflower oil, for example, provide predominantly alpha-tocopherol as their isoform of vitamin E, while corn and soy oil provide predominantly gamma-tocopherol.”
For now, he continued, correcting maternal alpha-tocopherol deficiency, currently defined by a serum alpha-tocopherol concentration less than 11.6 micromol/L, is certainly reasonable. Down the road, modification of maternal alpha-tocopherol or gamma-tocopherol concentrations through dietary counseling may provide clinicians with a tool to prevent wheezing or asthma in affected children. “In the future there may be a role for checking tocopherol isoforms in pregnant women and then modifying dietary oil consumption to protect the health of their children,” he said.
He acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including that researchers obtained maternal vitamin E isoform measurements at enrollment, when the infants were, on average, 6 weeks post partum, and not during pregnancy. “However, the literature has shown that postpartum vitamin E levels at this time point are very similar to those during the second trimester of pregnancy,” Dr. Stone said. “The literature has also shown that plasma vitamin E isoform concentrations are tightly tied to diet and body stores and do not change very rapidly (such that a woman would not be likely to go from the highest quartile to the lowest, or vice versa). People’s diets don’t tend to change that much, in general.”
INSPIRE is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Stone is funded by an NIH training grant through Vanderbilt University. He reported having no relevant financial disclosures.
ATLANTA – Increasing maternal postpartum–plasma alpha-tocopherol isoform concentration was associated with a decreased likelihood of wheezing at age 2 years, defined as wheezing in the past 12 months, use of asthma medications in the past 12 months, or diagnosis of asthma, results from a large analysis showed.
“For now, this is an association and not causation,” study author Cosby Stone, MD, MPH, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. “We need a clinical trial to evaluate the effect of giving more alpha-tocopherol to mothers during pregnancy before anyone should jump to giving supplements.”
The median age of children at the time of maternal sample collection was 50 days. 47% were female, and 61% were white. Of the 652 children, 167 (26%) met criteria for wheezing at age 2 years. These children had mothers with significantly lower postpartum concentrations of plasma alpha-tocopherol, compared with those who did not meet criteria for wheezing at 2 years (a mean of 69 micromol/L vs. 75 micromol/L, respectively; P = .02). In multivariable regression analysis, the researchers detected a significant interaction between gamma-tocopherol and alpha-tocopherol, where the highest amounts of maternal gamma-tocopherol modified and mitigated the protective association of maternal alpha-tocopherol with risk of wheezing at 2 years (P = .05).
Dr. Stone cautioned that, what is currently labeled as vitamin E or alpha-tocopherol in foods and supplements, “could be any of eight different isoforms, and alpha-tocopherol may not actually be the dominant isoform being provided. In addition, the oils that we eat are the main sources of tocopherols in our diet, and they vary widely in terms of their tocopherol isoforms. Sunflower and safflower oil, for example, provide predominantly alpha-tocopherol as their isoform of vitamin E, while corn and soy oil provide predominantly gamma-tocopherol.”
For now, he continued, correcting maternal alpha-tocopherol deficiency, currently defined by a serum alpha-tocopherol concentration less than 11.6 micromol/L, is certainly reasonable. Down the road, modification of maternal alpha-tocopherol or gamma-tocopherol concentrations through dietary counseling may provide clinicians with a tool to prevent wheezing or asthma in affected children. “In the future there may be a role for checking tocopherol isoforms in pregnant women and then modifying dietary oil consumption to protect the health of their children,” he said.
He acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including that researchers obtained maternal vitamin E isoform measurements at enrollment, when the infants were, on average, 6 weeks post partum, and not during pregnancy. “However, the literature has shown that postpartum vitamin E levels at this time point are very similar to those during the second trimester of pregnancy,” Dr. Stone said. “The literature has also shown that plasma vitamin E isoform concentrations are tightly tied to diet and body stores and do not change very rapidly (such that a woman would not be likely to go from the highest quartile to the lowest, or vice versa). People’s diets don’t tend to change that much, in general.”
INSPIRE is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Stone is funded by an NIH training grant through Vanderbilt University. He reported having no relevant financial disclosures.
ATLANTA – Increasing maternal postpartum–plasma alpha-tocopherol isoform concentration was associated with a decreased likelihood of wheezing at age 2 years, defined as wheezing in the past 12 months, use of asthma medications in the past 12 months, or diagnosis of asthma, results from a large analysis showed.
“For now, this is an association and not causation,” study author Cosby Stone, MD, MPH, said in an interview in advance of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. “We need a clinical trial to evaluate the effect of giving more alpha-tocopherol to mothers during pregnancy before anyone should jump to giving supplements.”
The median age of children at the time of maternal sample collection was 50 days. 47% were female, and 61% were white. Of the 652 children, 167 (26%) met criteria for wheezing at age 2 years. These children had mothers with significantly lower postpartum concentrations of plasma alpha-tocopherol, compared with those who did not meet criteria for wheezing at 2 years (a mean of 69 micromol/L vs. 75 micromol/L, respectively; P = .02). In multivariable regression analysis, the researchers detected a significant interaction between gamma-tocopherol and alpha-tocopherol, where the highest amounts of maternal gamma-tocopherol modified and mitigated the protective association of maternal alpha-tocopherol with risk of wheezing at 2 years (P = .05).
Dr. Stone cautioned that, what is currently labeled as vitamin E or alpha-tocopherol in foods and supplements, “could be any of eight different isoforms, and alpha-tocopherol may not actually be the dominant isoform being provided. In addition, the oils that we eat are the main sources of tocopherols in our diet, and they vary widely in terms of their tocopherol isoforms. Sunflower and safflower oil, for example, provide predominantly alpha-tocopherol as their isoform of vitamin E, while corn and soy oil provide predominantly gamma-tocopherol.”
For now, he continued, correcting maternal alpha-tocopherol deficiency, currently defined by a serum alpha-tocopherol concentration less than 11.6 micromol/L, is certainly reasonable. Down the road, modification of maternal alpha-tocopherol or gamma-tocopherol concentrations through dietary counseling may provide clinicians with a tool to prevent wheezing or asthma in affected children. “In the future there may be a role for checking tocopherol isoforms in pregnant women and then modifying dietary oil consumption to protect the health of their children,” he said.
He acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including that researchers obtained maternal vitamin E isoform measurements at enrollment, when the infants were, on average, 6 weeks post partum, and not during pregnancy. “However, the literature has shown that postpartum vitamin E levels at this time point are very similar to those during the second trimester of pregnancy,” Dr. Stone said. “The literature has also shown that plasma vitamin E isoform concentrations are tightly tied to diet and body stores and do not change very rapidly (such that a woman would not be likely to go from the highest quartile to the lowest, or vice versa). People’s diets don’t tend to change that much, in general.”
INSPIRE is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Stone is funded by an NIH training grant through Vanderbilt University. He reported having no relevant financial disclosures.
AT THE 2017 AAAAI ANNUAL MEETING
Key clinical point:
Major finding: Increasing maternal postpartum–plasma alpha-tocopherol concentration was associated with a decreased likelihood of wheezing requiring asthma medications at 2 years (P = .02).
Data source: A prospective evaluation of 652 children with maternal postpartum–plasma vitamin E isoforms measured at study enrollment.
Disclosures: INSPIRE is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Stone is funded by an NIH training grant through Vanderbilt University. He reported having no relevant financial disclosures.