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About 28 million Americans Asthma attack. Now, researchers have developed a new method that they say can predict when an attack will occur up to five years in advance.
By looking at small molecules in the blood of more than 2,500 asthma patients (an approach called metabolomics), the team Brigham, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. Discovered relationships between molecules They say these factors that influence asthma could help determine which patients are at greater risk for future attacks.
They found that measuring the amount of fats called sphingolipids compared to naturally occurring fats steroid hormones Can help predict how likely someone is to be attacked within the next five years.
This strategy can sometimes even identify high- and low-risk groups up to a year before their first attack, they say.
“We found that interactions between sphingolipids and steroids influence risk profile,” lead researcher Craig Wheelock from Karolinska Institute said in a report. statement. “This ratiometric approach is not only biologically meaningful, but also analytically reliable, making it well suited to be developed into a cost-effective and practical method clinical trial“.
High precision
The study analyzed data from three large asthma studies, including decades of electronic records from more than 2,500 participants.
The team tested several different ratios of sphingolipids to steroid hormones to develop the model, which was evaluated in addition to drug use and genetic history, and the model was able to identify high-risk patients with about 90 percent accuracy.
They also found that models using only other standard clinical information were only 50% to 70% accurate.
The researchers say their findings suggest laboratory tests could easily help patients in the future, but their results need further testing before their findings can be applied clinically.
They have patented the method.
Asthma in America
An asthma attack is sudden worsening of asthma symptoms This can cause coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing.
They may be triggered due to the following reasons allergyrespiratory illness, stress, exercise, or exposure to cold air, mold, smoke, or airborne chemicals and toxins.
Sometimes an attack occurs immediately after exposure, but it can take hours or even days for an attack to begin. cleveland clinic.
During an attack, the muscles around the airways tighten, swell, become inflamed, and produce mucus.
Asthma attack deaths Relatively few, but More than 3,000 people remain dead Over a year.
“One of the biggest challenges in treating asthma is that we currently have no effective way to tell which patient will have a severe attack in the near future,” said Jessica Lasky-Su, associate professor at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Our findings address a critical unmet need.”