According to new research being presented at Chest 2018, asthma patients who follow National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (EPR-3) guidelines may be able to control their asthma in the presence of dogs, cats, and secondhand smoke.

Of the 395 patients aged 2 to 17 years studied, 93% had either moderate or mild persistent asthma and 80% were exposed to either secondhand smoke, a dog or a cat at home. Every 3 to 6 months for 3 years, the children and teenagers had their acute care needs, symptom control and Asthma Control Test assessed.

Researchers found that regardless of whether an environmental exposure was present, patients improved significantly from baseline and improvements continued throughout the study.

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