The prevalence of asthma, a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, has risen sharply over the past 25-30 years, with the biggest increase found in children. Currently, more than 22 million Americans have asthma. Asthma also is associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Each year, asthma is responsible for $16 billion in direct and indirect costs due to health care utilization and loss of productivity, with over 14 million missed workdays. Asthma also accounts for almost 1.8 million emergency room visits and almost 500,000 hospitalizations annually. Therefore, assessment and monitoring of disease activity is critical to improve clinical and economic outcomes for patients with asthma. To help in this endeavor, practitioners and payers rely on evidence-based guidelines to classify disease severity, to guide treatment decisions, and to assess the degree of asthma control. In August 2007, the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) updated its guidelines based on greater knowledge of disease pathophysiology and the development of newer therapeutic agents. This includes an increased emphasis on the need to establish disease severity, including the components of impairment and risk, as well as on the level of asthma control. Despite the availability of the NAEPP and other guidelines, asthma control often remains suboptimal. While numerous clinical and patient-reported measures are available, it is clear that the optimal monitoring schema for patients with asthma remains undefined. To clearly establish whether asthma control is attained, multiple measures are required and should include clinical and patient-reported assessments.

A dult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. It is the second most common type of acute leukemia in adults. AML is also sometimes referred to as acute myelogenous leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia, acute granulocytic leukemia, and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. In AML, there is a block in differentiation and uncontrolled proliferation of myeloid precursors, and the myeloid stem cells usually become a type of immature white blood cell called myeloblasts (or myeloid blasts). 1 The myeloblasts in AML are abnormal and do not become healthy white blood cells. Leukemia cells, or leukemic stem cells (LSCs), can build up in the bone marrow and blood, so there is less room for healthy white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. When this happens, infection, anemia, or hemorrhaging may occur. The leukemia cells can spread outside the blood to other parts of the body. AML is the most common type of acute leukemia in adults, and its incidence increases with age. 2 This year, an estimated 21,380 people of all ages (11,960 men and 9420 women) in the United States will be diagnosed with AML. 3 It is primarily a disease of older adults; the disease rarely occurs before age 45, and the median age of onset is around 67 years. With post-remission therapy, 5-year survival rates of <5% to 20% and >40% may be achieved for patients older and younger than 60 years, respectively. 3