As reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, team of UK researchers administered an estimated threshold dose of peanut in a blind challenge. Then participants with a confirmed allergy “underwent 3 open peanut challenges in random order: with exercise after each dose, with sleep deprivation preceding challenge, and with no intervention.” They concluded: Exercise and sleep deprivation each significantly reduce the threshold of reactivity in patients with peanut allergy, putting them at greater risk of a reaction. Adjusting reference doses using these data will improve allergen risk management and labeling to optimize protection of consumers with peanut allergy.
In the Journals
Cost of Asthma Medicine is a Barrier to Adherence Worldwide
A recent article in JACI-In Practice says that not taking medicines for chronic disease as directed accounts for some 125,000 deaths in the US. This involves some 3500 asthma fatalities. “The Hidden Story of Nonadherence with Asthma Therapy: For a Few Dollars More?” (Van Boven & Chapman) attributes poor adherence to “asthma’s symptom variability, its error-prone delivery systems, and reliance on patient self-monitoring…” The authors cite several categories of nonadherence: According to the WHO, we should consider 3 broad categories of nonadherence: “(1) erratic (more commonly known as forgetfulness), (2) unwitting (eg, using reliever as preventer, poor self-management, and poor inhaler technique), and (3) intelligent nonadherence (eg, nonintake due to fear of steroids or medication dependence).” The problem is no better in countries with universal health care systems than our own.
Within that last one is the high cost of medicines. Another article in the same issue discusses this in detail. (Laba et al) A study in Australia shows that 25% of patients don’t fill their prescriptions due to cost. Per capita asthma fatalities are much higher in Australia than in the US.