Lakiea Wright, MD: Managing Symptoms of Allergic Asthma

According to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) guidelines, allergic asthma accounts for a majority of persistent asthma cases—it presents in nearly 90% in children and up to 60% in adults.

As a result, it is especially important for patients and clinicians to work together to mitigate symptoms associated with this condition.

In an interview with HCPLive®, Lakiea Wright, MD, Allergy and Immunology, Brigham and Women’s hospital, discussed actions both parties can take to prevent exacerbations of such symptoms.

Wright encouraged testing in order to help identify triggers, which could help patients minimize exposure to them.

“If you’re able to control the controllables in the environment, then you may decrease their medication use,” Wright said.

She also stressed that both healthcare provider and patient must be cognizant of “the rule of 2”. According to the rule, 2 daytime symptoms occurring in a week or 2 nighttime symptoms occurring in a month is indicative of asthma that is not well controlled.

As the for the 3rd strategy, Wright suggested that clinicals empower their patients with an asthma action plan so that they can be equipped to control their disease. Thus, a patient can make any necessary adjustments, such as adjusting inhaler use, based on their symptoms.

The 4th tip was ensuring that all medications are up to date, which require checking the expiration date.

And finally, Wright encouraged that healthcare providers should reinforce the infection control measures that have been stressed since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“As healthcare providers, we have to drill in that message that [the pandemic] is not over,” she said. “[The patient] needs to hear it from their healthcare provider who knows them.”