Community-Based Asthma Challenges and Solutions, with Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS

The discourse around asthma prevalence and burdenis increasingly more important than clinicians may realize. The most recently available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates approximately 25 million Americans currently have asthma—about 5 million more than was reported 20 years ago. Of this patient population, approximately 1 in 5 are children, and 1 in 10 are below the threshold for poverty.¹

Asthma disparately affects people of color; it is associated with the rising rates of obesity, chronic cardiometabolic and allergic disease in the US,^2,3 and it is exacerbated by poor air quality conditions—that which are becoming more prevalent with the record rate of particulate air pollution and wildfires occurring in the last few years.

At the same time, the armamentarium of asthma care is fortifying. Add-on targeted, biologic therapies that mitigate severe exacerbations have reached the market,⁴ and inhaler therapy regimens have continuously refined in the last decade with the introduction of triple-combination options as well as clinically-evidenced guidance like the Single Maintenance and Reliever Therapy (SMART) guideline recommendations.⁵

All these subjects, and more, converge on the May 2024 episode of Lungcast—presented in honor of World Asthma Day on May 7.

Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS, director of pediatric pulmonology at the Columbia University Medical Center and a prominent researcher in asthma, joins Lungcast to review topline developments, issues and clinical trends in the field. Throughout the podcast interview with Albert Rizzo, MD, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, Lovinsky-Desir provides insight into the characteristics of asthma subtypes, the status of guideline-driven care strategies, and the impact of factors including environmental health, COVID-19, and race/ethnicity on patient outcomes.

Lungcast is a monthly respiratory news podcast series hosted by Albert Rizzo, MD, chief medical officer of the ALA, and produced by HCPLive.

Subscribe to Lungcast on Spotify here, or listen to the episode below.

References

1. ^{CDC. Most Recent National Asthma Data. National Center for Environmental Health. Last updated May 10, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/most_recent_national_asthma_data.htm}
2. ^{Kunzmann K. New Asthma Management Guidelines Primer with Dr. Anne Dixon. HCPLive. Published January 11, 2021. https://www.hcplive.com/view/new-asthma-management-guidelines-dr-anne-dixon}
3. ^{Kunzmann K. The Asthma - Allergy Intersection, with Payel Gupta, MD. HCPLive. Published May 16, 2023. https://www.hcplive.com/view/asthma-allergy-intersection-payel-gupta-md}
4. ^{Kunzmann K. How PREPARE Data, SMART Recommendations Alter Modern Asthma Strategy. HCPLive. Published May 16, 2022. How PREPARE Data, SMART Recommendations Alter Modern Asthma Strategy}
5. ^{Kunmann K. Biologic Breakthroughs for Severe Asthma with Dr. Mario Castro. HCPLive. Published September 8, 2021. https://www.hcplive.com/view/biologic-breakthroughs-severe-asthma-dr-mario-castro}