Castro-Rodriguez JA, Beckhaus AA, Forno E Efficacy of oral corticosteroids in the treatment of acute wheezing episodes in asthmatic preschoolers: Systematic review with meta-analysis. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2016 Aug;51(8):868-76. doi: 10.1002/ppul.23429. Epub 2016 Apr 13.
Castro-Rodriguez JA, J Rodrigo G, E Rodriguez-Martinez C Principal findings of systematic reviews of acute asthma treatment in childhood. J Asthma. 2015;52(10):1038-45. doi: 10.3109/02770903.2015.1033725. Epub 2015 Aug 24. Erratum In: J Asthma. 2016;53(3):339.
Chalut DS, Ducharme FM, Davis GM The Preschool Respiratory Assessment Measure (PRAM): a responsive index of acute asthma severity. J Pediatr. 2000 Dec;137(6):762-8. doi: 10.1067/mpd.2000.110121.
Cohen RT, Pelton SI Individual Benefit vs Societal Effect of Antibiotic Prescribing for Preschool Children With Recurrent Wheeze. JAMA. 2015 Nov 17;314(19):2027-9. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.14953. No abstract available.
Hasegawa K, Tsugawa Y, Brown DF, Camargo CA Jr Childhood asthma hospitalizations in the United States, 2000-2009. J Pediatr. 2013 Oct;163(4):1127-33.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.05.002. Epub 2013 Jun 12.
Jartti T, Kuneinen S, Lehtinen P, Peltola V, Vuorinen T, Leinonen M, Ruuskanen O Nasopharyngeal bacterial colonization during the first wheezing episode is associated with longer duration of hospitalization and higher risk of relapse in young children. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2011 Feb;30(2):233-41. doi: 10.1007/s10096-010-1075-z. Epub 2010 Oct 13.
Nath JB, Hsia RY Children's emergency department use for asthma, 2001-2010. Acad Pediatr. 2015 Mar-Apr;15(2):225-30. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2014.10.011. Epub 2015 Jan 14.
Interventional studies are often prospective and are specifically tailored to evaluate direct impacts of treatment or preventive measures on disease.
Observational studies are often retrospective and are used to assess potential causation in exposure-outcome relationships and therefore influence preventive methods.
Expanded access is a means by which manufacturers make investigational new drugs available, under certain circumstances, to treat a patient(s) with a serious disease or condition who cannot participate in a controlled clinical trial.
Clinical trials are conducted in a series of steps, called phases - each phase is designed to answer a separate research question.
Phase 1: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase 2: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase 3: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase 4: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.