title: Mild persistent asthma: is any treatment needed?
abstract: Asthma treatment guidelines are intended to relieve symptoms and to prevent complications such as exacerbations, airway remodeling, and death. The existing recommendations are based on a combination of evidence and expert opinion. Recent data raise questions about the need for chronic controller therapy for those patients at the very low end of the asthma-severity continuum. Although these data are not sufficient to warrant a change in guidelines, the new information points out the need for large, long-term studies on the treatment of mild persistent asthma, with an emphasis on exacerbations, remodeling, and the relationship between these outcomes and markers of asthma control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0111, USA. lazma@ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lazarus
mesh_terms: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents