Millions of research dollars have been spent on asthma in the past decade with very little to show for it, according to a University of Iowa study. The findings will be presented today at a conference in Seattle, Washington, by Dr. Miles Weinberger, a U-of-I pediatrics professor.Dr. Weinberger says asthma is the leading chronic childhood disease in the U-S and is also the leading reason kids check into the hospital. He says national guidelines were adopted ten years ago to increase control of the respiratory condition, and they haven’t worked.Weinberger says the 140-pages of guidelines need to be drastically revised, and slimmed down to about four pages of common-sense material for doctors. He says the most important part of his report is — the power needs to be returned to the asthma patients, who can be fully trained by their doctors to handle the problem without needing to rush to a hospital.Weinberger says the vast majority of hospital visits can be prevented. He adds there’s nothing a doctor can do in the office that an asthma patient or family member can’t be taught to do better — because they can do it earlier at home. He’s presenting the report today at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.