Management of Adult Asthma

Step up/down treatment according to disease severity to maintain good control and minimise drugrelated side-effects. Start at the step most fitting to the initial severity of the asthma. Treatment plans and goals should be negotiated with the patient but usual aims would be to minimise impact of symptoms on life, reduce reliance on reliever medication and prevent severe exacerbations. Self-management education including individualised written asthma action plans should be offered. Always check concordance with medication/existing action plan, effective inhaler technique and the presence/absence of trigger factors before initiating new drug therapy. It is very important to consider the upper respiratory tract when treating asthma. It is much more difficult to treat asthma successfully if co-existing allergic rhinitis is not adequately controlled [2] .