Evaluation of monitoring strategies for childhood asthma.
The goal of monitoring pediatric asthma is to obtain and maintain asthma control, which is defined as minimizing asthma symptoms, restrictions to daily activities and the use of rescue medication. Long term goals include reducing the risk of fixed airflow limitation, and preventing asthma exacerbations and side effects of treatment. Several monitoring tools are available but no consensus exists on how to monitor patients in the most optimal way. Areas covered: In this review, we provide an overview of different tools and address general considerations on monitoring childhood asthma. Asthma care should be tailored to the individual patient. The health care professional should decide which monitoring strategy and frequency is optimal for the individual patient. Expert commentary: Personalized medicine should be the key issue in monitoring asthma in children. It is crucial to monitor disease activity and deterioration but there is no monitoring strategy that is clearly superior compared to others: The optimal strategy and frequency will vary between patients. Actually, both treatment and monitoring of pediatric asthma probably benefit from a personalized approach.
a Department of pediatrics , Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
M L
ML
Brouwer
b Amalia children's hospital, department of pediatrics, division of respiratory medicine , Radboud University Medical Centre , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
L S van den
LSVD
Wijngaart
c Department of pediatrics , University Centre for Chronic Diseases (Dekkerswald) , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
C A C
CAC
Hugen
a Department of pediatrics , Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
G P J M
GPJM
Gerrits
b Amalia children's hospital, department of pediatrics, division of respiratory medicine , Radboud University Medical Centre , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
J
J
Roukema
a Department of pediatrics , Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.|b Amalia children's hospital, department of pediatrics, division of respiratory medicine , Radboud University Medical Centre , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
P J F M
PJFM
Merkus
FENO; Patient Related Outcome Measures; Pediatric asthma; asthma monitoring; lung function; personalized medicine