You can be an asthmatic without actually suffering from asthma

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3,500,000 UK people with mild to moderate asthma currently suffer daily or weekly symptoms and are vulnerable to potentially life-threatening asthma attacks.1 But a landmark study published today has shown that the misery of asthma is needless for many patients.

15 October 2004: One of the largest ever asthma studies has shown for the first time that patients have the opportunity to live their lives free from asthma symptoms2 - a radically new aim for asthma management in the UK.

The landmark GOAL study, conducted in the UK and 43 other countries across the world, compared treatment with SeretideTM (salmeterol/fluticasone propionate, a combination of inhaled steroid and long-acting bronchodilator) and inhaled steroid alone for achieving complete freedom from asthma signs and symptoms, defined as Total Control.2 Total Control is the most stringent asthma measure ever studied and a goal previously thought to be beyond possibility for the majority of patients.2

The research found that treatment with Seretide achieved Total Control in over 40% of patients across the study2, enabling them to enjoy freedom from the physical impacts of the disease such as the need to use rescue medication (‘blue puffer’), wheezing and potentially life-threatening asthma attacks. Of the remainder, the majority achieved near perfect levels of control.2 Currently, just 5% of people with asthma are estimated to live free from such restrictions.3

Seretide was shown to be significantly better at achieving Total Control of asthma symptoms than inhaled steroid alone, the current mainstay of asthma treatment, and should be the preferred therapy for uncontrolled asthma patients according to the study authors.2

“For the first time, GOAL shows that you can be an asthmatic without actually suffering from asthma. People who currently live their lives around their asthma, could now go years without a bad attack,” said Professor Ashley Woodcock, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, one of the UK investigators of the study. “Up to now, doctors and patients have just expected to experience the symptoms and restrictions of asthma and make do, often relying on their emergency blue inhaler to cope with symptoms and attacks. We now know that using Seretide we can aim for total control of symptoms and that means no asthma at all.”

A recent report from the Global Initiative for Asthma highlighted the burden of asthma in the UK, with children here reporting more asthma symptoms than anywhere else in the world.4 According to Asthma UK, as many as 75% of people with mild to moderate asthma experience debilitating symptoms that regularly restrict their daily activities and half a million suffer asthma attacks on a near daily basis.1

“Before starting on the trial I was really dependent on my blue inhaler and my asthma used to interfere with what we could do as a family; and that used to upset me”, commented mother of two, Claire, an asthma patient from Cardiff involved in GOAL. “The change in my life since the trial has been incredible. Things that used to really trigger my asthma, such as pet hair, now don’t worry me at all. To be honest, I really don’t think of myself as being an asthmatic at all any more which is great as with two young children to look after it gives me one less thing to worry about!”

The results of GOAL were published today in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the prestigious ‘Blue Journal’. The one-year study involving 3,421 children and adults included eight centres across the UK.2 Patients with uncontrolled asthma were randomised to receive either Seretide or inhaled steroid alone within the licensed dose range. In the first study of its kind, treatment was adjusted until patients achieved Total Control of their asthma symptoms.

Amongst patients uncontrolled on low dose inhaled steroid before they entered the study (typical of millions of UK asthma patients), 44% of those taking Seretide achieved Total Control of their asthma symptoms, meaning absolute freedom from symptoms for at least seven out of every eight weeks. By comparison, just 28% of patients on inhaled steroid achieved Total Control of their symptoms.2

“Patients can help themselves by badgering their healthcare professionals and saying ‘I am still having regular asthma symptoms, I want to do more, help me achieve that’,” concluded Professor Andrew Greening, Professor of Pulmonary Disease and Consultant Physician, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. “GOAL shows that it is possible to achieve very high levels of asthma control very simply - just one puff on one inhaler, twice a day.”

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