Assessment of asthma severity and asthma control in children.
National and international guidelines for asthma recommend the assessment and documentation of severity as the basis for patient management. However, studies show that there are problems with application of the severity assessment to children in clinical practice. More recently, asthma control has been introduced as a method to assess the adequacy of current treatment and inform asthma management. In this article we review the application and limitations of the severity assessment and the asthma-control tools that have been tested for use in children. A system of using asthma severity for disease assessment in the absence of treatment and using asthma-control assessment to guide management decisions while a child is receiving treatment appears to be a promising approach to tailor treatment to improve care and outcomes for children with asthma.
Yawn
Barbara P
BP
Department of Research, Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. yawnx002@umn.edu
Brenneman
Susan K
SK
Allen-Ramey
Felicia C
FC
Cabana
Michael D
MD
Markson
Leona E
LE
D001249:Asthma / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D019468:Disease Management; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires