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Tezepelumab, a human monoclonal antibody, blocks the activity of thymic stromal lymphopoietin. In the phase 3 NAVIGATOR study (NCT03347279), tezepelumab reduced exacerbations by 56% compared with placebo in adults and adolescents with severe, uncontrolled asthma. This analysis evaluated the efficacy and safety of tezepelumab in NAVIGATOR patients recruited in Japan.

Pollen food Syndrome (PFS) to Rosaceaefruits and soybean, related to Bet v 1 homologue sensitization has been reported increasingly throughout Japan, possibly due to the wide distribution of alder.

IgE and mast cells play a pivotal role in various allergic diseases, including asthma, allergic rhinitis, and urticaria. Treatment with omalizumab, a monoclonal anti-IgE antibody, has significantly improved control of these allergic diseases and introduced a new era for the management of severe allergic conditions. About 10 years of experience with omalizumab treatment for severe allergic asthma confirmed its effectiveness and safety, reducing symptoms, frequency of reliever use, and severe exacerbations in patients with intractable conditions. Omalizumab is particularly useful in childhood asthma, where atopic conditions often determine clinical courses of asthma.

The latest guidelines on hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) categorise the disease as either fibrotic or non-fibrotic because of the greater clinical utility of this stratification. However, the prevalence and incidence of fibrotic and non-fibrotic HP are unknown. This study assessed the exact prevalence and incidence of fibrotic and non-fibrotic HP in Japan in 2021.

Global surveys and cohort studies have been conducted to evaluate the prevalence of allergic disease in childhood, but only a few nationwide surveys have been conducted in Japan. We aimed to report the prevalence of childhood allergic disease in Japan and determine the prevalence distribution by sex and prefecture.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) and exercise-induced asthma (EIA) are common in asthmatic children, and exercise is the most common trigger other than infection for acute onset asthma attack in children. We examined whether AD is related to exercise-induced wheezing (EIW), some proxy for EIA.

To evaluate the long-term safety of subcutaneous immunotherapy with TO-204, a standardized house dust mite (HDM) allergen extracts, we conducted a multicenter, open label clinical trial.

The MENSA trial assessed the efficacy and safety of mepolizumab in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma. This report describes the efficacy and safety of mepolizumab in Japanese patients from MENSA.

Omalizumab is effective and well-tolerated in children with moderate to severe allergic asthma. However, the effects of long-term treatment with omalizumab in this population haven't been well investigated. The objective of this study is to evaluate the long-term safety, efficacy, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of omalizumab in children with uncontrolled severe asthma.

Genetic and environmental factors are known to be related to the development of childhood eczema. Our aim was to assess the environmental factors associated with the prevalence of eczema among children using a web-based survey.

Allergic rhinitis is one of the most common chronic diseases in children. Although it has a large impact on the patient's quality of life, little is known about the factors associated with its severity. The aim of this study was to assess the factors associated with the severity of rhinoconjunctivitis among children in the general population.

Omalizumab has demonstrated clinical benefits in children with moderate to severe allergic asthma. However, no studies have been performed in Japanese asthmatic children. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy including free IgE suppression and safety of omalizumab in Japanese children with severe allergic asthma. The primary objective was to examine whether omalizumab decreases serum free IgE levels to less than 25 ng/ml (target level of suppression).

Epidemiologic studies have shown seasonal variations in responses to the written questionnaire for rhinitis symptoms.

Like asthma and atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis is an allergic disease, but of the three, it is the only type I allergic disease. Allergic rhinitis includes pollinosis, which is intractable and reduces quality of life (QOL) when it becomes severe. A guideline is needed to understand allergic rhinitis and to use this knowledge to develop a treatment plan. In Japan, the first guideline was prepared after a symposium held by the Japanese Society of Allergology in 1993. The current 7th edition was published in 2013, and is widely used today.

Background:Exercise-induced wheezing (EIW) may be a symptom of asthma and is a predictor of exercise- induced bronchoconstriction, transient narrowing of the lower airway following exercise in the presence or absence of diagnosed asthma. Population-based studies with a large sample of EIW in relation to age, sex, current asthma severity and medication usage have been sparse.

Background A relevant relationship exists between the upper and lower airway, indicating the concept of a unified airway. This study aimed to evaluate whether rhinitis has an association with asthma in children.Methods A cross-sectional nationwide survey was performed among children 6–7, 13–14, and 16–17 years old, using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children (ISAAC) questionnaire in Japan. According to the responses to the ISAAC core questions, a child who had experienced nasal symptoms in the past 12 months in the absence of a cold was defined as having current rhinitis.Results After excluding 11,475 children because of incomplete data, 136,506 children were analyzed. Even after adjusting for demographics, sex, and obesity, children with current rhinitis were more likely to have asthma (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 3.10 [95% CI, 2.92–3.30] in children aged 6–7 years; OR, 3.76 [95% CI, 3.45–4.10] in children aged 13–14 years; and OR, 3.59 [95% CI, 3.33–3.88] in children aged 16–17 years). Children whose daily activities were more impaired by rhinitis symptoms had a significantly higher prevalence of severe asthma. The adjusted ORs for severe asthma among asthmatic children whose daily activities were severely impaired by rhinitis symptoms were 3.66 (95% CI, 2.29–5.85) in children aged 6–7 years, 2.55 (95% CI, 1.64–3.96) in children aged 13–14 years, and 1.87 (95% CI, 1.24–2.82) in children aged 16–17 years compared with asthmatic children whose daily activities were not impaired at all.Conclusion There was a close association between rhinitis and asthma in young children to adolescents. Asthma should be examined in children with rhinitis symptoms.

The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) has reported the prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases in many countries.

Like asthma and atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis is an allergic disease, but of the three, it is the only type I allergic disease. Allergic rhinitis includes pollinosis, which is intractable and reduces quality of life (QOL) when it becomes severe. A guideline is needed to understand allergic rhinitis and to use this knowledge to develop a treatment plan. In Japan, the first guideline was prepared after a symposium held by the Japanese Society of Allergology in 1993. The current 6thedition was published in 2009, and is widely used today.

Few studies have examined the relationship between dyspnea perception and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) in asthmatic children.

We conducted and reported the first (1982; 55,388 subjects), and second (1992; 45,674 subjects), epidemiological surveys conducted on bronchial asthma in elementary students across 11 prefectures in western Japan. The 2 surveys were conducted in the same regions using the same methodology employing a modified Japanese version of the American Thoracic Society-Division of Lung Diseases (ATS-DLD) Epidemiology Questionnaire. We conducted the third survey in 2002, and compared the findings to those of previous studies.

Asthma is the most common chronic diseases in school-aged children in Japan. It is important to consider health-related quality of life (QoL) among children with chronic diseases when treatment decisions are made.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether pranlukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, attenuates exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) in children with asthma. The study was designed as a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled two-period crossover trial. The subjects were 17 stable asthmatic children aged 7–14 years old (mean, 11.0 years) with a history of typical symptoms of EIB. They received dry syrup of pranlukast or placebo both after supper on the first day and after breakfast on the second day of the study in each period. All exercise challenges were performed on a bicycle ergometer and spirometry measurements of pulmonary function (FVC, FEV1.0, PEF, MMF,50and 25) were collected pre-and post-exercise. Compared with placebo, pranlukast significantly inhibited the reduction of pulmonary function after exercise. Consequently, this study demonstrated that pranlukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, is a useful drug in childhood asthma management. (Pediatr Asthma Allergy Immunol 2005;18[1]:5–11.)

Asthmatic deaths have shown a tendency to decrease in National Fukuoka Hospital. According to our analysis of asthma death and near-fatal asthma, the risk factor for death was considered as follows : low compliance, underestimation of severity (by patient or family), becoming used to attacks through experiencing many attacks, insufficient knowledge about attacks, overuse of β-stimulant metered-dose inhaler, etc. One of the reasons for the decrease in asthma death was thought to be the regular usage of many anti-asthmatic drugs especially inhaled corticosteroid.

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is characterized by chemically induced symptoms from multiple organs. These symptoms occur in response to demonstrable exposure to chemically unrelated compounds at doses far below those known to cause harmful effects in the general population. Although the mechanism of this action remains unclear and no acceptable and well-documented treatment for MCS has yet been established, regarding neurogenic inflammation, it has been hypothesized that an increased density of C-fiber neurons is found in symptomatic tissues.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence of convulsions in a large Japanese pediatric population (60,634 patients from 79 centers) treated with theophylline (T). Moreover, further details were obtained from the affected patients. Two sequential questionnaires were sent to centers in order to obtain data. The incidence rate of convulsions was 0.24% (127/54,066) in asthmatic patients treated with T vs. 0.36% (27/7,568) in asthmatic patients not treated with T (p= NS). Eight patients showed convulsions related to T treatment: this group included three infants≤1 year, high mean serum T concentration at the time of convulsion attack (16.7 ± 1.6 μg/mL), and high concomitant medication rate. The rate of recurrent convulsions after readministration of theophylline was higher for patients with epilepsy than for patients with febrile convulsions. In conclusion, the incidence of convulsions in pediatric patients was not affected by the use of theophylline as treatment for asthma. The low frequency of side effects related to convulsions suggest theophylline treatment is safe, but special care must be taken with the following: pyrexia, dose control in infants <1 year, combined ways of drug administration (i.e., oral and suppository), and use of concomitant drugs (antihistamines or macrolides).