title: Asthma heterogeneity and severity.
abstract: Asthma is a common, chronic inflammatory airways disease characterized by a clinical syndrome of bronchial hyperresponsiveness, inflammation, and reversible airflow obstruction. Individuals with asthma can vary widely in clinical presentation, severity, and pathobiology. The incident factors, pathogenesis, prognosis, and treatment of asthma remain incompletely understood. Utilizing measurable characteristics of asthmatic patients, including demographic, physiologic, and biologic markers, can however identify meaningful phenotypic categories in asthma. Identification of these phenotypes may help improve precision therapeutics targeted toward an individual's' disease, and may identify strategies for preventing progression of disease severity.
authors.affiliation: Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center, University of Arizona, 1501 N Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ 85724-5030 USA.
authors.forename: Tara F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.affiliation: Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine Research, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC USA.
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bleecker
keywords: Heterogeneity; Phenotype; Severe asthma