title: SANI-Severe Asthma Network in Italy: a way forward to monitor severe asthma.
abstract: Even if severe asthma (SA) accounts for 5-10% of all cases of the disease, it is currently a crucial unmet need, owing its difficult clinical management and its high social costs. For this reason several networks, focused on SA have been organized in some countries, in order to select these patients, to recognize their clinical features, to evaluate their adherence, to classify their biological/clinical phenotypes, to identify their eligibility to the new biologic therapies and to quantify the costs of the disease. Aim of the present paper is to describe the ongoing Italian Severe Asthma Network (SANI). Up today 49 centres have been selected, widespread on the national territory. Sharing the same diagnostic protocol, data regarding patients with SA will be collected and processed in a web platform. After their recruitment, SA patients will be followed in the long term in order to investigate the natural history of the disease. Besides clinical data, the cost/benefit evaluation of the new biologics will be verified as well as the search of peculiar biomarker(s) of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Asthma Center and Allergy Unit, Verona University and General Hospital, Piazzale Stefani 1, 37126 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Senna
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie, 15, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guerriero
authors.affiliation: Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Department, University of Pisa, Via Paradisa, 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Paggiaro
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Cardio-thoracic unit and Cystic Fibrosis Adult Center Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via Francesco Sforza, 35, 20122 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Blasi
authors.affiliation: Asthma Center and Allergy Unit, Verona University and General Hospital, Piazzale Stefani 1, 37126 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caminati
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Diseases and Allergy - Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 78, 95123 Catania, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heffler
authors.affiliation: Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Department, University of Pisa, Via Paradisa, 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Latorre
authors.affiliation: Allergy & Respiratory Disease, DIMI-University of Genova, Largo Rosanna Benzi, 10, 16132 Genova, Italy.|Asthma & Allergy Clinic, Humanitas University, Via manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano, Milano Italy.
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Canonica
keywords: Adherence; Biologics; Network; Registry; Severe asthma