BACKGROUND Previous research shows that existing asthma quality of life questionnaires fail to measure the burden of oral corticosteroids that can be used to treat severe asthma, and are therefore not fit for purpose for severe asthma according to the USA's Federal Drug Authority's (FDA) criteria for content validity. Patient input and documentation of that input is key to achieving content val...

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 ...

RATIONALE Despite long-term therapy with corticosteroids, patients with severe asthma develop irreversible airway obstruction. OBJECTIVES To evaluate if there are structural and functional differences in the airway epithelium in severe asthma associated with airway remodeling. METHODS In bronchial biopsies from 21 normal subjects, 11 subjects with chronic bronchitis, 9 subjects with mild as...

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...

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...

Increasing evidence suggests that patients with asthma have activated coagulation within the airways. Whether this leads to an increase in venous thromboembolic events is unknown. We therefore assessed the incidence of venous thromboembolic events in patients with mild-to-moderate and severe asthma as compared with an age- and sex-matched reference population. 648 patients with asthma (283 with...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Despite guideline-based treatment, many patients with severe asthma continue to have uncontrolled disease. Fungal allergy is being increasingly recognized in the pathogenesis of severe asthma. Limited data exist on the approach to treatment of fungal asthma. This review summarizes existing evidence on the use of antifungal agents in allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABP...