Asthma education: an essential component in asthma management.

Despite recent developments in our understanding of what could be the optimal management of asthma and renewed efforts from guidelines developers to help clinicians integrate their recommendations into current care, asthma remains a major human and economic burden [1–3]. Asthma is a variable condition, which unfortunately often remains uncontrolled, resulting in frequent acute healthcare use and impaired quality of life. Patient involvement in the management of their condition helps improve its control, and most patients agree to play such a role [4, 5]. However, to be able to manage asthma adequately, those suffering from asthma should understand the nature of the disease, how to assess its control, the basic principles of treatment and the peculiarities associated with their own case, in addition to learning essential self-management skills [4, 6, 7]. Self-management asthma education is therefore considered by current asthma guidelines and strategies to be an essential component in the management of asthma, and is recommended with the highest level of evidence [8–10].