NIH Statement on World Asthma Day 2018

NIH Video: Patients and Scientists Work Together to Advance Asthma Research

May 1, 2018

On World Asthma Day 2018, the National Institutes of Health stands with people worldwide to renew our commitment to advance understanding of asthma and develop effective strategies to manage, treat and ultimately prevent the disease. A new three-minute NIH video provides a glimpse into the stories of patients and doctors who are working to advance research. Patients discuss the impact asthma has had on their lives, and investigators highlight promising areas of research and the critical role that clinical trial volunteers play in combatting the disease.

Asthma is a chronic lung disease characterized by episodes of airway narrowing and obstruction, causing wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. An estimated 235 million people worldwide, including 24.6 million in the United States, have asthma. The disease can reduce one’s quality of life, and it is a major cause of missed time from school and work. Severe asthma attacks may require emergency room visits and hospitalizations, and they can be fatal. NIH is committed to reducing the burden of this disease, which disproportionately affects minorities and families living at or below the poverty line.

NIH conducts and supports all stages of asthma research, from basic studies in the laboratory to human clinical trials. Clinical research volunteers are essential to developing new interventions and treatments, and NIH expresses our gratitude to all the individuals and families who have participated in these clinical studies.

Three NIH institutes support and conduct studies on asthma—the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI); and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Each institute focuses on a specific area of asthma research, with the common goal of developing improved strategies for management, treatment and prevention of this chronic disease.

NIAID supports asthma research focused on understanding the immune responses that lead to asthma, as well as developing asthma prevention strategies and treatments to improve life for those with the disease. As part of its broad asthma portfolio, NIAID sponsors two major programs—the Inner-City Asthma Consortium (ICAC), which studies the causes of asthma in urban children and works to develop treatments to improve asthma; and the Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Centers (AADCRC) program. With nine centers around the country conducting state-of-the-art human, basic and applied animal model research, the AADCRC program aims to understand the origins of asthma and the reasons underlying development of severe asthma. ICAC supports nine clinical research sites located across the United States, including the Improving Pediatric Asthma Care in the District of Columbia (IMPACT DC) asthma clinic at Children’s National Health System, led by Stephen J. Teach, M.D., M.P.H., chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s National.

NHLBI’s broad asthma research portfolio includes efforts to understand the biology of disease development, progression and severity and to optimize treatment for patients. Children’s National is a clinical site for the Oral Bacterial Extract (ORBEX) study, which is testing new ways to prevent or reduce wheezing in infants, a major risk factor for later development of asthma. Severe asthma, which disproportionately affects women and minorities, is an area of emphasis for NHLBI. Research in the laboratory of Stewart J. Levine, M.D., in NHLBI’s Division of Intramural Research revealed that apolipoproteins—proteins in blood that typically transport fats into and out of cells—play a role in asthma severity. Based on this research, NHLBI scientists have developed a potential new asthma treatment—a synthetic protein that mimics the function of an apolipoprotein associated with better lung function in people with asthma. In addition, the new NHLBI clinical trials network Precision Interventions for Severe and/or Exacerbation-Prone Asthma (PrecISE) will conduct early clinical trials with novel interventions in severe asthma patients to identify the best interventions for specific groups of patients. NHLBI also funds the Asthma Empowerment Collaborations to Reduce Childhood Asthma Disparities. This program supports clinical trials to evaluate Asthma Care Implementation Programs (ACIPs) that provide comprehensive care for children at high risk of poor asthma outcomes and will also include measures of the ability to implement and sustain the ACIPs in specific communities.

Asthma research conducted by NIEHS scientists focuses on the complex relationship between the environment, the immune system and asthma. Stavros Garantziotis, M.D., leads the Natural History of Asthma With Longitudinal Environmental Sampling (NHALES) study at the NIEHS Clinical Research Unit. The study examines how the environment affects asthma symptoms. In particular, Garantziotis and colleagues are investigating how the microbiome—the microbes naturally present in and on the body and in the home—may be associated with asthma activity. NIEHS also funds researchers studying the impact of environmental exposures on asthma. Some of these projects include pioneering the development of sensor systems that measure personal exposure to environmental triggers of asthma, clinical trials examining reductions in indoor air pollution exposures to improve asthma control, and innovative data science tools that integrate nationwide environmental data. These efforts promote better asthma prevention and management strategies. Several studies are specific to high-risk populations, including children and the elderly.

These examples represent only a small portion of NIH efforts to reduce the global burden of asthma. NIH is grateful to all those who help make advances in care possible—from scientists and health care professionals to clinical research volunteers, advocates and educators. Together, we can advance our shared mission to develop and implement effective strategies for the management, treatment and prevention of asthma.

NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders. The Institute also administers national health education campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov.

NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health. For more information on NIEHS or environmental health topics, visit www.niehs.nih.gov or subscribe to a news list.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Content last reviewed on May 1, 2018