Asthma Center

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Asthma Center

Welcome to the ATS Asthma Center! The Asthma Center is brought to you by the ATS Assembly on Allergy, Inflammation, and Immunology (AII). Our mission is to provide a reliable site that will allow easy access to relevant, high quality asthma-related information. We hope you find this Center useful and encourage your feedback and comments.

Sincerely,

Mark Aronica, MD
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Editor, ATS Asthma Center

Praveen Akuthota, MD
University of California, San Diego
Editor, ATS Asthma Center
Chair, AII Web Committee

Richard Ramonell, MD
University of Pittsburgh
Editor, ATS Asthma Center

 

 

Asthma is a serious health problem that affects people in all countries across the globe. In many places, the prevalence of asthma is increasing with accompanying social costs due to increased health care utilization and lost productivity from missed work or school. There are several sources of good information regarding asthma prevalence and social burdens. Care should be taken to tailor the information source to the specific population being addressed as there is significant variation between countries and among demographic groups.

Australia

Canada

United Kingdom

United States of America

General Guidelines

Guidelines help direct medical providers by concisely summarizing the body of literature informing asthma care. Panels of physicians, who are renowned experts in their fields, convene to make recommendations based on the latest evidence. Below, you can find links to asthma guidelines from the NIH NHLBI National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) Expert Panel Working Group and the Global Initiative for Asthma.

Severe Asthma

Severe asthma is defined as asthma which is not well-controlled with high-dose inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting bronchodilators in a patient who has good inhaler technique and who has treated contributory factors. Asthma can also be considered severe if it requires these treatments to remain well-controlled. Adult patients with severe asthma make up less than 4% of all patients with asthma yet have significantly more morbidity related to their illness and healthcare utilization. In addition to general guidelines, major societies have released guidelines related to the diagnosis and management of patients with difficult to treat and severe asthma, which can be found below.

Asthma Assessment Instruments, Asthma Action Plans, and Research Tools

Patients' control over their asthma can often be difficult to assess. For this reason, providers can use standardized tools to compare symptom control between patients and longitudinally. Some of these tools are used in research contexts and are important for asthma providers to understand. Here, we have listed several tools used for both routine clinical care and research purposes.

Patient-Facing Fact Sheets

Patients with asthma often struggle with the complexity of their disease and, too often, there is limited time during a single office visit to provide comprehensive patient education. For this reason, the American Thoracic Society and the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have created publications and fact sheets designed for patients to assist in patient education.

See: how to use an MDI, how to use a DPI, how to use a nebulizer, resources in Spanish, etc.

Resources

Spanish Language Resources

As part of the ATS Quick Hits series, the American Thoracic Society is committed to providing clinical cases as teaching and learning tools for physicians and trainees. Below, you can find several challenging clinical cases and case reports related to asthma from cases published in Annals of the ATS.

The Expert Clinician

 

Latest News

On Sept. 7, 2023, a new working definition for clinical remission on treatment in asthma was published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. The consensus paper is a product of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI), the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), and the American Thoracic Society (ATS). It is endorsed by the European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airway Diseases (EUFOREA).

As an increasing number of improved asthma treatments are developed, a greater number of people with asthma are finding that their symptoms are under control. Their improved status raises an important question for health care providers (HCPs) who treat this condition: “What qualifies as clinical remission in asthma treatment?” 

The leadership of ACAAI convened a panel of 11 experts in asthma care in association with AAAAI and ATS to review available literature and create the definition of clinical remission on treatment in asthma. The panel included six allergists, three pulmonologists, and two pediatricians. 

The authors note that this document is a jumping-off point and a template to allow for further clinical research. They also commented that HCPs treating asthma patients can use this definition to generate needed data. The definition is expected to evolve over time. 

As the term “remission” has historically implied total control of asthma, without medication use, the workgroup proposed six criteria for asthma clinical remission on treatment. Of the six criteria, three had unanimous consent, while the remaining three had factors that remain under consideration. Read more here.