May may be Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month (and my only chance to use epizeuxis), but it’s also a great time – as always – for Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology to highlight the quality of care for your patients. An important special article this month focuses on reporting guidelines for allergy and immunology survey research. If you undertake any survey studies, this is an important article to read – it gives important tips and guidance on how to design, implement, and report survey studies. My accompanying editorial outlines the journal’s expectations that future survey studies submitted to Annals will utilize this resource.
Before you read any further, I want to remind you that we are now accepting nominations for the 2023 ACAAI Annals fellow-in-training (FIT) awards! These are cash awards (up to $2,500!) for a FIT who publishes a paper in Annals (in print) between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. Nominations should be sent by email to Annals@ACAAI.org and must be received by August 15, 2023. Read the full instructions for award nominations.
Back to this month’s theme – we have two interesting perspectives related to quality. The first covers the nuts and bolts (or, as the authors say, “the secret sauce”) of quality improvement (QI) and what you need to know to be successful in implementing QI projects. The second perspective delineates the role of QI in allergy practices – hands-on instruction that you can put to work immediately.
The reviews in this month’s Annals focus on QI related approaches to allergy and immunology. An impactful article discusses penicillin allergy delabeling and how to implement and disseminate such a program. If you need a penicillin delabeling kit, this month’s Marginal Zone will sell you one with a hearty chuckle! Other reviews include implementing a standardized asthma management plan, the role of testing for early peanut introduction, and the appropriate use of oral Janus kinase inhibitors in the treatment of atopic dermatitis.
Original articles focused on asthma this month (it is Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, after all) include a meta-analysis comparing the effectiveness of biologics in asthma, cluster analysis of elderly versus nonelderly asthma, and an extension of type 2 inflammation into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Other original articles look at the risk of anaphylaxis with cluster versus standard immunotherapy, the use of patch testing for Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and the epidemiology of multi-food allergy in the U.S., amongst others.
Our Letters section includes reports on the use of alpha-amylase as a biomarker for the bronchodilator response, reports on an emerging new pathogen in an immunodeficient patient with asthma, and a patient whose atopic dermatitis improved with treatment of cholinergic urticaria.
Finally, this month’s issue includes part 2 of the cough yardstick – managing cough in children. Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, we now have a feature on our website called “ANAI Collections,” so you can quickly have access to the latest clinical information when treating your patients. Please email correspondence to us at Annals@ACAAI.org and let us know how Annals helps you provide the best possible care to your patients. Oh, and don’t forget to nominate a FIT!
Mitchell Grayson, MD, FACAAI
Editor-in-Chief
