Long-acting Beta Agonist Step Down Study

Current asthma guidelines recommend stepping down therapy once asthma is controlled for at least 3 months. For patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) alone, a dose reduction of 25-50% to a minimal dose that controls disease is recommended. The optimal approach to reducing treatment in patients with asthma treated with combination inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta agonists (ICS/LABA) is not clear. The American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Center (ALAACRC) is a network of 18 asthma research centers with the goal of performing clinical trials directly relevant to clinical practice. The question of the optimal way to de-escalate therapy in patients with asthma that is well controlled on fixed dose combination ICS/LABA is a key question for practitioners caring for patients with moderate to severe persistent asthma. We propose a 56 week multi-center, prospective, randomized, three-arm parallel group comparative effectiveness study comparing three approaches to care of patients with asthma well-controlled for three months on combination ICS/LABA: reduction of ICS dose and maintenance of LABA, initial discontinuation of LABA with continuation of ICS, and continuation of stable dose ICS/LABA. Our primary goal is to perform a pragmatic study that resembles clinical practice and determine the optimal treatment strategy that results in the lowest rate of treatment failure over 48 weeks of follow-up. Additional exploratory analyses include assessing risk factors for step-down failure, and to assess the duration of time that asthma control is maintained when therapy is de-escalated.