An Official American Thoracic Society / European Respiratory Society Statement: Asthma Control and Exacerbations: Standardizing Endpoints for Clinical Asthma Trials and Clinical Practice. Part 2

A Comparison of Budesonide/Formoterol Maintenance and Reliever Therapy Versus Conventional Best Practice in Asthma Management in Spain

“…The primary variable was time to first severe asthma exacerbation (10)(11)(12)(13). A severe asthma exacerbation was defined as deterioration in asthma leading to at least hospitalization or emergency room treatment for asthma or treatment with oral corticosteroids for at least three consecutive days (3).…”

“…Overall asthma control consists of two domains: current or day-to-day asthma control (absence of asthma symptoms, minimal reliever use, normal activity levels, and lung function) and future risk (absence of asthma exacerbations, prevention of decline in lung function, and no side-effects from drugs) (3,4).…”

Relationship between Current Psychological Symptoms and Future Risk of Asthma Outcomes: A 12-Month Prospective Cohort Study

“…Recently published asthma guidelines (1) and the Task Force report by the American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (4) have recognized that control of asthma involves current control and long-term components referred to as "risk" or "future risk" (5). Achieving optimal asthma control relies on several behavioral factors such as self-monitoring, treatment adherence, and managing exposure to environmental triggers.…”

Comparison of Asthma Control Criteria: Importance of Spirometry

“…Asthma control questionnaires (11,28,29) for clinical and research use (30) have been validated, are responsive, and have demonstrated clinical utility in the short term (7). However, a universally accepted best method of classifying asthma control clinically has not been identified (11,30).…”

“…However, a universally accepted best method of classifying asthma control clinically has not been identified (11,30). Ideally, such an assessment tool should be predictive of future risk of exacerbations and decline in lung function as well (31).…”