title: Update on the current methods for the diagnosis and treatment of severe childhood asthma.
abstract: The level of asthma control is the key outcome towards which asthma management is evaluated. The majority of children with asthma can obtain adequate control of symptoms through avoidance of triggering factors and/or with the help of low to moderate doses of current available medications. However, there is still a group of children with poor symptom control despite intensive treatment. The current review will provide an overview of a standardized approach to characterize this heterogeneous group of severely sick children. Factors that attenuate the effect of the prescribed treatment and make asthma difficult to treat are discussed. In addition, the usefulness of current methods of assessing asthma severity, pulmonary function, allergy and airway inflammation is also described. Finally, an overview of therapeutic options for children with severe asthma is provided.
authors.affiliation: a 1 Department of Woman's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17176 Stockholm, Sweden.|b 2 Centre for Allergy Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jon R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Konradsen
authors.affiliation: a 1 Department of Woman's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17176 Stockholm, Sweden.|b 2 Centre for Allergy Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Caffrey Osvald
authors.affiliation: a 1 Department of Woman's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17176 Stockholm, Sweden.|b 2 Centre for Allergy Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gunilla
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hedlin
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: FENO; airway inflammation; allergy; asthma; asthma treatment; biomarkers; blood eosinophils; children; pulmonary function; severe asthma