Severe Asthma

[Severe asthma].

Is it severe asthma or asthma with severe comorbidities?

Severe asthma is defined as asthma that requires treatment with high-dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) plus a second controller and/or systemic corticosteroids to prevent it from becoming uncontrolled or that remains uncontrolled despite this therapy. This definition has limitations: 1) it does not define any biological characteristic that distinguishes severe asthma from asthma in general an...

Clinical review: Severe asthma

Severe asthma, although difficult to define, includes all cases of difficult/therapy-resistant disease of all age groups and bears the largest part of morbidity and mortality from asthma. Acute, severe asthma, status asthmaticus, is the more or less rapid but severe asthmatic exacerbation that may not respond to the usual medical treatment. The narrowing of airways causes ventilation perfusion ...

Assessing severe asthma.

It is now 13 years since we and others described results from protocolised assessment of patients seen in specialist centres because of lack of control of their asthma with high dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) plus additional controller (usually long acting beta agonists; LABA), or those requiring long term oral steroids to control the disease [2, 3]. In that time data have confirmed the use...

Acute severe asthma.

Introduction Acute severe asthma is one of the most common causes of visits to hospital emergency departments worldwide and accounts for the greater part of the economic and healthcare burden of the disease.1 Failure to appreciate the severity, inadequate emergency treatment, and delay in referral may lead to increased mortality and morbidity.2 Asthma is the most common respiratory emergency in...