New strategies in the medical management of asthma.
Asthma, a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, may be classified as mild intermittent or mild, moderate, or severe persistent. Patients with persistent asthma require medications that provide long-term control of their disease and medications that provide quick relief of symptoms. Medications for long-term control of asthma include inhaled corticosteroids, cromolyn, nedocromil, leukotriene modifiers and long-acting bronchodilators. Inhaled corticosteroids remain the most effective anti-inflammatory medications in the treatment of asthma. Quick-relief medications include short-acting beta2 agonists, anticholinergics and systemic corticosteroids. The frequent use of quick-relief medications indicates poor asthma control and the need for larger doses of medications that provide long-term control of asthma. New guidelines from the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Expert Panel II recommend an aggressive "step-care" approach. In this approach, therapy is instituted at a step higher than the patient's current level of asthma severity, with a gradual "step down" in therapy once control is achieved.
West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, USA.
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D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013664:Teaching Materials
D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents