10 Treatable Traits That Could Predict Asthma Attacks
With increasing attention on a “treatable traits”—a new classification and precision medicine strategy for asthma and other chronic airway diseases,1 a team of researchers set out to examine whether and which treatable traits could be identified from registry data in persons with severe asthma and used to predict the future risk of asthma exacerbations.2
In their study, published in the journal Respirology, the investigators recorded the prevalence of the treatable asthma traits of 434 participants with severe asthma and 102 participants with non-severe asthma, all of whom were enrolled in the Australasian Severe Asthma Web‐Based Database. The prevalence of participants’ treatable asthma traits were described. They assessed participants at the study’s outset and then every 6 months thereafter for 24 months.
Of the 24 treatable traits the researchers identified, 10 predicted exacerbation risk in the participants with severe asthma, with the 5 strongest as follows:
- Being prone to exacerbations
- Depression
- Inhaler device polypharmacy
- Vocal cord dysfunction
- Obstructive sleep apnea
“Treatable traits can be assessed using a severe asthma registry,” the authors concluded. “In severe asthma, patients express more treatable traits than non‐severe asthma. Traits may be associated with future asthma exacerbation risk demonstrating the clinical utility of assessing treatable traits.”
—Michael Gerchufsky
References:
- Agusti A, Bel E, Thomas M, et al. Treatable traits: toward precision medicine of chronic airway diseases. Eur Respir J. 2016;47(2):410-419.
- McDonald VM, Hiles SA, Godbout K, et al. Treatable traits can be identified in a severe asthma registry and predict future exacerbations [published online September 18, 2018]. Respirology. https://doi.org/10.1111/resp.13389.