Reducing asthma medicine can be done safely with guidance

PHOENIX — Stepping down asthma medicines can be done safely and at a lower cost for patients, says a new Mayo Clinic study published recently in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
It is common for patients and doctors to test if taking less daily asthma medicine is safe — primarily because of the high cost of asthma medicine. However, deciding when to reduce daily asthma medicines can be challenging, and it would be helpful to understand the risks involved.

The study, led by Dr. Matthew Rank, an allergy and immunology specialist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, analyzed asthma outcomes after patients stepped down their daily asthma medicines. The team studied more than 4,000 patients (adults and children) who were taking daily asthma medicines and focused their analysis on two groups: Patients who had stable asthma for at least one year who stayed on their same daily asthma medicine and patients who had stable asthma for at least one year who stepped down their daily asthma medicine.

Stepping down asthma medicines in patients who have had stable asthma for at least one year appears to be as safe as continuing the same level of medicines, the study found. Only 11 percent of patients had problems with their asthma in the four to five months after stepping down their asthma medicines.
"Trying to reduce the daily asthma medicine speaks to the principle of using the least amount of medicine to control symptoms and prevent attacks," Rank said.
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