Asthma exacerbations: prevention is better than cure

Dominick E Shaw, Ruth H Green, Peter Bradding

Institute for Lung Health, Department of Respiratory Medicine and Thoracic Surgery, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK

Abstract: Poorly controlled asthma is currently treated by adding or removing asthma medication in a stepwise fashion to try and improve symptoms and maintain lung function. It is becoming apparent that asthma exacerbations are independent of asthma control and severity, and that the simple method of using rescue courses of corticosteroids to treat an asthma exacerbation can be bettered by aiming to prevent its occurrence. New tools that can predict and prevent exacerbations are now becoming available. This article discusses these tools and takes a more detailed look at new treatment regimes being used.

Keywords: asthma exacerbation, corticosteroids, asthma treatment regimes