Experts forecast tough cold and flu season ahead:
over half of asthma sufferers report attacks in first weeks of winter¹ 

Leading respiratory experts fear early warning signs are indicating a tough cold and flu season ahead, particularly for high risk Aussies with asthma. Sufferers are warned to brace themselves for what could be a challenging season, as figures announced today by the National Asthma Council Australia reveal 58 percent of adults with the condition have already suffered asthma attacks* at the start of winter.¹

The findings also show dangerous levels of complacency amongst adults with asthma, which affects more than two million Australians.² Many (43%) are still not planning to have their lungs checked by their GP, half have not yet been vaccinated against influenza and only 40% have an up-to-date written asthma action plan.¹

“This new review of asthma sufferers (conducted this month) suggests they are being hit hard. It is imperative anyone with asthma visits their GP within the next seven to 10 days for a lung health check, including flu vaccination, before the depth of winter hits,” said Associate Professor Peter Wark, National Asthma Council Australia Director.

“Even though an unusual season occurred last year, it should never be assumed that an easier ride is ahead, as all flu seasons can be highly dangerous for those with respiratory conditions,” he added.

Almost half of Australians with asthma surveyed reported they had already endured cold and flu symptoms and eight-in-ten have seen an increase in asthma symptoms (wheezing, shortness of breath, tightness of chest and coughing) since the cold weather hit.¹

“It is critical for asthma sufferers to understand they are at risk of serious complications from influenza such as pneumonia which usually requires hospitalisation. As well influenza is responsible for causing acute asthma attacks. Recent published data shows one-third of influenza (H1N1) admissions into Australian Intensive Care Units (ICU) last flu season were those with chronic lung conditions – notably asthma³,” said Associate Professor Wark.

When asked about their cold and flu encounters in 2009, it was found that seven-in-ten asthma sufferers were affected by colds and flu and one-third of these were officially diagnosed with influenza. Almost half (45%) of those who took time off work, as a result of their cold and flu and asthma symptoms, missed 5-10 working days.¹

Kristine Whorlow, Chief Executive Officer of the National Asthma Council adds: “One of the best ways people with asthma can protect themselves this winter is to ensure they have an up-to-date written asthma action plan. Preparing one with their doctor is essentially like a ‘life jacket’. It is a necessary and potentially life-saving tool that all people with asthma should arm themselves with,” she said.

More information, including an Asthma Flu Checklist (http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/content/view/633/1063/) and written asthma action plans (http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/content/view/247/638/), is available on the National Asthma Council Australia’s website http://www.nationalasthma.org.au.

* When asthma symptoms (such as wheezing, coughing, breathlessness) flare up or are out of control  

References:

1. An online assessment of 210 Australian asthma sufferers' (aged 18+) cold and flu experiences for 2009 and 2010, conducted by Stollznow Research 7-9 June 2010.

2. Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring 2008. Asthma in Australia 2008. AIHW Asthma Series 3. AIHW cat no. ACM14. Canberra: AIHW.

3. Kotsimbos T. Influenza A/H1N1_09: Australia and New Zealand's winter of discontent. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2010; 181: 300-306.

Primary care asthma update - workshops now available

The National Asthma Council Australia’s Primary Care Asthma Update (A-Team) is back!

Opportunities are now available for GP networks/divisions around Australia to host this popular and effective workshop.

The Primary Care Asthma Update (A-Team®) covers the essentials of best-practice asthma and respiratory management for primary care health professionals.

Participants: GPs, asthma and respiratory educators, practice nurses, pharmacists, Indigenous health workers, other allied health professionals
Presenters: Expert health professional peer educators
CPD recognition: Applications in progress with RACGP, ACRRM, PSA, RCNA and APNA
Duration: 2 hours
Cost: Free

The NAC has run similar workshops since 2002 with consistently positive feedback from participants. Under the last series (held 2006-2009):

• 98% of participants reported increased knowledge of best-practice asthma management 
• 94% of participants reported the workshop was entirely relevant to their practice
• 92% of participants reported the workshop entirely met their learning needs

Hosting a Primary Care Asthma Update workshop is easy for a GP network/division. The NAC will manage the presenters and resource materials, including associated costs. The host organisation just needs to look after attendance and coordinate the event logistics, for which funding support is available.

The Primary Care Asthma Update (A-Team®) is part of the National Asthma Council Australia's GP and Allied Health Professional Asthma and Respiratory Education Program, supported by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing for 2009–2013.

More information 

For more details and to download a Workshop Request Form, go to:
Asthma and Respiratory Education Program

Asthma Media Awards - entries closing soon

Entries will soon close for the National Asthma Council Australia 2009/10 Asthma Media Awards.

Any professional Australian journalist who has written or produced an asthma-related story that has been published or aired during the 2009/10 financial year (1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010, inclusive) may enter.

For more information see 2009-10 Asthma Media Awards

For online application see Application for Asthma Media Awards     

Clinical trials volunteering

Clinical trials are the focus of a new webpage recently launched on the National Asthma Council Australia website. The webpage aims to help potential trial participants understand what is involved in volunteering and also to provide details of trials that are currently recruiting people with asthma or other respiratory conditions.

Clinical trials are carefully monitored and supervised testing of new and existing medicines to help improve the treatment of people with medical conditions like asthma. They are a way of thoroughly testing whether new medicines are safe and effective before they are made widely available to the general population, or to work out the best way to use existing medicines.

Without volunteers willing to take part in clinical trials, many new and improved treatments for conditions such as asthma would never make it onto the market for the Australian population.

While there are personal benefits from volunteering, many participants comment that the greatest reward is knowing that their efforts may help not only themselves, but also their friends, family and wider community.

Clinical Trials Seeking Volunteers

More information 

If you would like more information about clinical trials in asthma or you would like to submit a clinical trial for listing, go to Clinical Trials (http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/content/view/708/1099/)

Asthma control? We've got an app for that

An online self-management tool for people with asthma has been shown to significantly improve their ability to reduce their symptoms. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Respiratory Research tested the system in 200 adults with asthma, finding significant effects in those whose asthma was either partly controlled or uncontrolled at the beginning of the trial.

Victor van der Meer worked with a team of researchers from Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands, to carry out the trial. He said, "The improvements in asthma control scores for patients with partly or uncontrolled asthma at baseline suggest a significant reduction of current asthma symptoms. Future asthma treatment strategies should incorporate continuous self-monitoring, as demonstrated here."

Participants in the researchers' system were trained to measure their own lung function and input the results, either by a web application or text message. The web site then suggests personalized advice on how to adjust treatment and presents a graphical representation of how they are progressing. According to van der Meer, "This asthma action plan is one of few that not only specifies action points to increase treatment but also to decrease it, which provides the possibility to tailor medication to individual needs. All control level groups showed a similar pattern of pharmacological therapy over time: an increase in inhaled corticosteroids in the first three months, followed by a decrease in the next 9 months".

Patients adhered to the system well, with around an 80% participation rate in the first three months, decreasing to 60% by the end of the trial. This reflects the reduced need for monitoring once control of the disease has been achieved.

Reference

Van der Meer V, Van Stel HF, Bakker MJ et al. Weekly self-monitoring and treatment adjustment benefit patients with partly controlled and uncontrolled asthma: an analysis of the SMASHING study. Resp Res 2010; 11: 74  http://respiratory-research.com/content/11/1/74

Study of severe asthma using CT scans

A new study led by University of Leicester researchers at Glenfield Hospital suggests that CT scans may be the way forward for monitoring progression of severe asthma as well as checking how it is responding to treatment.

CT scans, a series of X-ray images of the body, are usually used to detect tumours - but the Leicester study points to their use in asthma. Preliminary results from the study will be showcased at the University of Leicester's Festival of Postgraduate Research on 24 June.

Dr Sumit Gupta, a postgraduate student at the University of Leicester, along with his colleagues at the Institute for Lung Health and Radiology Department at Glenfield Hospital, is investigating the use of Computed Tomography (CT) scanning to assess structural changes in lungs and airways of patients with severe asthma.

Professor Chris Brightling and Dr James Entwisle are supervising this work which is part funded by The Wellcome Trust.

Their findings suggest that CT derived measures of structural changes may potentially be used as a non-invasive 'marker' in asthma to monitor disease progression and response to current and novel treatment.

Dr Gupta said: "Asthma is a major health problem affecting 300 million people worldwide. Approximately half a million people in UK suffer from severe asthma and are, as a consequence, at increased risk of asthma attacks, hospitalization and death and often have severely impaired quality of life. Structural changes that occur in airways of asthmatic individuals remain difficult to quantify and monitor. Computed tomography (CT) scans have now emerged as a non-invasive research tool to assess these airway structural changes. "

Professor Brightling, a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow and Honorary Consultant at the Institute for lung Health, who is leading this study, said: "Currently, there is paucity of markers that can be used to monitor asthma progression, response to treatment and to identify patients who will have recurrent asthma attacks and develop persistent airflow obstruction, features particularly relevant to severe asthma."

Dr Gupta and colleagues have demonstrated that CT assessed airway dimensions are associated with worsening of lung functions and airway inflammation. They also observed a reduction in the airway wall thickness along with reduction in asthma attacks amongst severe asthma patients, whose airway inflammation was suppressed by novel therapy, targeting specific type of inflammation. CT scanning therefore may assist in monitoring asthma progression and response to treatment.

Professor Brightling added: "Ability to objectively quantify different structural changes in asthma using CT may assist in differentiating various disease sub-types and help deliver personalised healthcare."

This research work therefore highlights the importance of CT scanning in severe asthma patients and its potential use as a non-invasive 'marker' for monitoring of the disease. This research work was recently showcased in House of Commons during the 'SET for Britain' event. Dr Gupta was the only University of Leicester representative in biomedical sciences at the event.

Dr Gupta is also a radiology speciality trainee at East Midlands Healthcare Workforce Deanery. Fifteen abstracts have been accepted to date for presentation of different aspects of his research work at various international respiratory and radiology meetings. Dr Gupta has five peer reviewed publications in leading medical journals. He was awarded a travel bursary for presenting his research work at European Congress of Radiology 2009 by The Royal College of Radiologists, UK.

The research is being presented to the public at the University of Leicester on June 24. The Festival of Postgraduate Research introduces employers and the public to the next generation of innovators and cutting-edge researchers, and gives postgraduate researchers the opportunity to explain the real world implications of their research to a wide ranging audience.

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/pgr/events/fpgr

Upcoming Events from AGPN

World Health Care Networks Conference 22-24 July 2010

Venue: SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
Hosts: Australian General Practice Network and General Practice New Zealand

The 2010 Inaugural Conference provides a forum for people from around the globe to work together on sustainable solutions which help improve the health and wellbeing of the world's population. The Conference will bring together peak organisations involved in networked primary health care and general practice with policy makers, strategists, funders, purchasers and health service professionals to share information and ideas, and learn from the best from all around the world.

• clinical, managerial and community leaders from organised primary health care organisations around the world, primarily PHOs and IPAs in New Zealand, members of the   Australian General Practice Network and equivalent ‘meso' level organisations in Europe, the UK, North America,
  and Asia-Pacific;
• policy makers, strategists, researchers, planners, funders and purchasers, and health service professionals; and
• consumers of health services, with an initial focus on peak representative bodies.

For more information and to register please visit the Conference website: www.whcnetworks.com/index.php/conference

AGPN National Forum 3-6 November 2010

Venue: Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, Perth
Host: Australian General Practice Network

"Connecting care - The role of networks in improving health"

The Forum goal is: Bringing health care partners together to lead and develop a strong, coordinated health system and deliver quality connected care.

• growing leadership
• building relationships
• creating integrated models of care

Research Funding Opportunities

Asthma Foundation of Victoria Research Grants for 2011  

Applications are open for the Asthma Foundation of Victoria Research and Travel Grants for 2011.

Grants on offer for 2011 are:

• The Helen Macpherson Smith Grant for general asthma research (up to $25,000 plus GST)
• The Hon Walter Jona AO Paediatric Research Grant for childrens/adolescent asthma research (up to $25,000 plus GST)
• The Lillian Roxon Travel Grant for young researchers (up to $7,000 including GST)

Research Grants are available for projects where the Principal Investigator resides in Victoria.  The Asthma Foundation of Victoria particularly encourages applications from young researchers commencing their investigative research careers. 

Applications for the 2011 Asthma Foundation of Victoria Research Grants close at 5.00pm on Wednesday 30 June 2010.

Full details including the Conditions of the Awards and Application Forms are available to download from the Asthma Foundation of Victoria website http://www.asthma.org.au/ or from

The Asthma Foundation of Victoria
491-495 King Street
West Melbourne VIC 3003
Phone: (03) 9326 7088
Fax: (03) 9326 7055
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it    

Asthma Foundation of Queensland

Queensland PhD Scholarship

Applications are invited for the Asthma Foundation of Queensland PhD Scholarship open to eligible medical, scientific, nursing and pharmacy graduates and equivalently qualified allied health practitioners (psychologists, physiotherapists, asthma educators, etc) who plan to commence a PhD in 2011. The scholarship will provide financial support for a graduate looking to build a career in research relevant to asthma.

The research must be undertaken in Queensland. The scholarship is open to Australian citizens or permanent residents intending to nurture a career in Queensland, and will be for a period of up to three years, with the stipend and allowances based upon NHMRC rates.

Applications close 30 June 2010

Further information and application forms for the Queensland PhD Scholarship go to the Foundation’s website or contact:

Chief Executive Officer
The Asthma Foundation of Queensland
PO Box 394
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Telephone: (07) 3252 7677 or 1800 645 130
Facsimile: 07 3257 1080
Web: http://www.asthmaqld.org.au/  

Conference Diary

Submit brief conference/meeting details to the National Asthma Council Australia for possible posting in our Conference Diary by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

2010
	The Inaugural World Health Care Networks (WHCN) Conference 22-24 July 2010 SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre, Auckland, New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand www.whcnetworks.com/index.php/conference
	Respiratory Educators Conference 9 -10 September 2010 Wellington, New Zealand www.asthmafoundation.org.nz
	Australian Asthma & Respiratory Educators Association Symposium 23-25 September 2010 Canberra Rex Hotel Canberra, ACT www.aarea.org.au
	GP 10 6-9 October 2010 Cairns Convention Centre Cairns, North Queensland www.gp10.com.au
	AGPN National Forum 3-6 November 2010 Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, Perth, WA This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
	INTERASMA World Congress 3-6 November Athens, Greece wca2010.gr/pages/en/welcome.php
	8th Asia Pacific Congress of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology (APCAACI 2010)  6-9 November 2010  Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre  http://www.apcaaci2010.org/  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
	1st WAO International Scientific Conference 5-8 December 2010  Dubai, UAE http://www.worldallergy.org/2010dubai/