The results of two studies investigating the effectiveness of Advair treatment on asthma sufferers were presented at the 2008 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting.

Advair combines two medications—an inhaled corticosteroid to reduce inflammation and an inhaled long-acting bronchodilator to help prevent and reduce airway constriction—to control asthma events.

One of the studies examined the effect Advair use had on asthma-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits in children ages 4 to 11 with persistent asthma. The study found that those using Advair had a rate of 3.0 visits per 100 patient-years compared to a rate of 4.2 visits per 100 patient-years in those who did not use Advair. In addition, the Advair group had a rate of 15.8 emergency department events per 100 patient-years. That rate increased to 18 events per 100 patient-years in the group not using Advair.

The second study examined the managed care database of over 45 health plans to investigate the effect of using Advair in the summer to curb asthma events in the fall. Typically, asthma events are worst in September, October and November and are lowest in the summer months.  This study found that using Advair in the summer had a significant, positive impact on the effects of asthma in the fall. Children, adolescents, and adults who used Advair during the summer were significantly less likely to be hospitalized or require emergency department treatment during the subsequent fall months than were those who did not receive Advair treatment.