Childhood
asthma contributes to significant morbidity among patients and significantly impacts the quality of life and daily routines of their caregivers. The parents or caregivers assume responsibility for tasks that children are too young to perform; this often includes daily administration of controller medications and nightly administration of reliever medications. Most young children do not have the coordination or understanding to effectively use pressurized
metered-dose inhalers or inhalation-driven devices; thus
nebulizer therapy often is preferred for children younger than 4 years of age.
Budesonide inhalation
suspension will be the first inhaled
corticosteroid available for children younger than 4 years of age and the first inhaled
corticosteroid for delivery by nebulization in the United States. This is a case report of a 3-year-old boy who received
budesonide inhalation
suspension as part of several double-blind and open-label studies evaluating the
drug. Before study entry, the boy was experiencing more breakthrough
wheezing episodes at night than the parents were used to, resulting in an increase in nighttime awakenings that required
nebulizer therapy. These nighttime awakenings had a substantial impact on the quality of life of the entire family and interfered with the parents' ability to function at work. Even though they wanted to have more children, this situation discouraged them from doing so.
Budesonide inhalation
suspension improved overall
asthma control and was well tolerated. The boy had a decrease in nighttime symptoms and an increase in both height and weight percentiles for his age. Importantly, use of
budesonide inhalation
suspension in this boy eased the management of severe
asthma and improved the quality of life of the entire family. The parents subsequently decided to have a second child.
Budesonide inhalation
suspension represents a major breakthrough for infants and young children by providing a formulation that, on approval, can be delivered reliably by
nebulizer for effective maintenance treatment of persistent
asthma.