title: Asthma phenotypes today.
abstract: PubMed databases were searched for articles regarding asthma phenotypes. Asthma has long been recognized as a heterogeneous disease, with hallmark features including age of onset, pattern of severity and other clinical characteristics, but recently it is no longer considered as single disease but rather as a series of complex, overlapping individual phenotypes, and a novel classification of the disease according to the nature of the underlying airway inflammation has been suggested. It has become increasingly clear that asthma is a complex syndrome. Recognition of specific subphenotypes may improve our understanding of underlying genetic basis and of pathophysiologic mechanisms as well as of response to treatment.
authors.affiliation: Specialista in Allergologia e Immunologia Clinica, Specialista Malattie Apparato Respiratorio, Bergamo, Italia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cottini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Asero
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D001249:Asthma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010641:Phenotype; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index