Genetic test can help reduce school absences owing to asthma

Genetic testing of children with asthma can identify the most effective treatment and thereby reduce asthma exacerbations, a new study shows.1

The trial found that one add-on treatment for asthma, salmeterol, was less effective than another, montelukast, in 62 Scottish children with the homozygous arginine-16 mutation. Children taking montelukast had fewer school absences resulting from asthma, had milder exacerbations, and used less of the salbutamol “reliever” inhaler over the following year.

Salmeterol and montelukast are both used in patients with symptoms …