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Treating Asthma in the Older Patient

Is There a Place for Leukotriene Modifiers?

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Abstract

Asthma is a common airway disease found in people of all ages, although most studies of asthma therapies are focused on adolescent and young adults. Little information exists on the use of asthma therapeutics in the older patient (>65 years of age). The newest therapeutic class to be released in the US for the treatment of asthma is the leukotriene modifiers. These medications (either receptor antagonists or enzyme inhibitors) have been found to be beneficial in younger patients with asthma, but their potential role in older patients is less clear. In this review, the data regarding the use of these medications in older patients are examined, as are the epidemiological and pathophysiological issues regarding asthma in this growing patient population. On the basis of the two published reports of leukotriene modifiers in the older patient, we conclude that leukotriene modifiers are useful in this population, but like other controller therapies for asthma, they are less effective in the older population.

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Acknowledgements

Dr Grayson is on the speaker’s bureau for Merck and Co. and receives research support from Novartis/Genentech and NIAID/NIH (AI1800).

Dr Korenblat has performed clinical trials for Medicinova, Astra-Zeneca, Critical Therapeutics and Merck and Co. He has been a consultant, and is on the speaker’s bureau for Astra-Zeneca, Critical Therapeutics and Merck and Co.

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

    Mitchell H. Grayson & Phillip E. Korenblat

  2. The Clinical Research Center, St Louis, Missouri, USA

    Phillip E. Korenblat

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  1. Mitchell H. Grayson
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  2. Phillip E. Korenblat
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Correspondence to Mitchell H. Grayson.

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Grayson, M.H., Korenblat, P.E. Treating Asthma in the Older Patient. Drugs Aging 23, 451–459 (2006). https://doi.org/10.2165/00002512-200623060-00002

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