Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management

Asthma is the most prevalent chronic respiratory disease, affecting 358 million people worldwide in 2015. While the age-standardized asthma-related death rate decreased from 1990 to 2015, asthma still represents a significant burden in terms of morbidity. There is therefore an important role for utilizing add-on therapy options. The focus of this review series is on the use of long-acting anticholinergic add-on therapy to reduce asthma morbidity. The series raises many interesting questions: how to ensure effective implementation of guidelines; why training and regular dialogue with patients is so important; and the future position of long-acting anticholinergics in asthma therapy.