Saturday 19, Dec 2009
Influenza vaccine effective for asthmatic patients on inhaled steroids
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As per Dr. Nicola Hanania, BCM assistant professor of medicine and director of the Asthma Clinical Research Center, from Baylor College of Medicine and findings presented in an issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the influenza vaccine has the potential to offer great relief to asthmatic patients on inhaled steroids and suffering from type A flu.
It was, however, remarked that protection against type B flu gets considerably reduced in patients taking high doses of inhaled steroids.
From News-Medical.Net:
Hanania was the lead researcher among the six centers belonging to the American Lung Association-Asthma Clinical Research Centers Network that participated in this study. The study looked at 294 asthma patients who were randomly assigned to receive either the flu vaccine or a placebo (an inactive medication). Seventy-five percent of patients who received the vaccine were on steroids while 70 percent of those received placebo were on steroids.
The immune response of patients on steroids at all doses who received the vaccine was higher than that seen in patients on steroids who received placebo, said Hanania. However, patients on high doses of inhaled steroids had a lower immune response to type B influenza. A previously published study performed by this network confirmed the safety of influenza vaccine in children and adults with asthma.
Hanania further remarked that these study findings should reconfirm and assure physicians and patients about the fact that influenza vaccine does offer protection against influenza in most of the asthmatic patients on inhaled steroids.
Tags: influenza vaccine, Inhaled steroids, placebo, steroids
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