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JACI Highlights - March 2006
Covar et al - Safety of methacholine challenges in a multicenter pediatric asthma study
Pharmacologic provocation challenges have been used in both clinical and research settings to evaluate bronchial hyperresponsiveness, a characteristic feature of asthma. In the March 2006 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Covar and colleagues examined the safety of performing methacholine provocation challenges in the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) study. CAMP, a multicenter, randomized, clinical trial which enrolled 1041 children, evaluated the long-term efficacy and safety of three inhaled treatments for mild to moderate childhood asthma over 4 to 6 years, followed by an observational 4 year period (CAMP Continuation Study). Over 8,000 methacholine challenges within an 11 year period were analyzed. No serious events occurred and severe symptoms which occurred in 7% of the positive and incomplete challenges were easily reversible; none of which required an urgent care visit. They found that evaluation of bronchial hyperresponsiveness can be well tolerated based on the safety profile of this large study.
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