Assessment of asthma severity and control

Abstract

Background: Asthma is a disease of great variability. Untreated asthma can have lifelong implications in terms of lung growth as well as residual lung function throughout life. Close attention to establishing severity of the disease and level of control established in each patient through treatment are important to achieving the best results. Methods: Available English-language literature was reviewed. Citations were included based on the quality of the original paper and relevance to the specific aims of this primer. Results: Assessing intrinsic severity of the patient's disease at the first encounter using impairment measures of short-acting beta agonist use, nighttime awakenings, interference of disease with normal activity, and pulmonary function testing, as well as measures of patient risk of acute exacerbations is vitally important. At subsequent patient encounters, adjusting therapy based on both impairment and risk components of control will improve long-term outcomes. Conclusion: Any practitioner undertaking to care for asthma patients should be conversant with the degrees of disease severity and levels of disease control on therapy. Application of these principles will maximize patient benefit from asthma care.