New asthma guidelines balance risk, control

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New guidelines unveiled by U.S. federal health experts on Wednesday for tackling asthma carve out a new age group, children 5 to 11, for unique treatment.

Inhaled corticosteroid drugs remain the best long-term treatment to control asthma in all age groups, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute guidelines.

"Inhaled corticosteroids are the foundation of care in infants, children, pregnant women, adults and in the older population," said Dr. Stuart Stoloff of the University of Nevada, a member of the committee that crafted the guidelines.

Other drugs should be added only as needed and should be discontinued as soon as possible, experts say.

The guidelines also aim to better gauge which patients may be at future risk of asthma attacks "and represent a continuing effort to finally cure this disease," said Dr. William Busse of the University of Wisconsin, who headed the panel.

The new guidelines -- the first thorough update in 10 years of U.S. recommendations to doctors on treating and diagnosing asthma -- gave special attention to the growing problem of childhood asthma. They also offered new advice on drugs and controlling environmental factors that may trigger symptoms.

Existing guidelines had called for children 5 to 11 to be treated the same as adults. The new ones specify three age groups to get different treatment for asthma: birth to 4 years, 5 to 11, and 12 and older.

The middle group was created amid emerging signs they may respond differently to asthma medications than adults.