This information is taken from the revised 2007 GINA Report, Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention (2007), available on the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) website. Please refer to the full guideline document for more detailed information.
Asthma has a significant impact on individuals, their families, and society. Although there is no cure for asthma, appropriate management that includes a partnership between the physician and the patient/family most often results in the achievement of control.
The goals for successful management of asthma are to:
These goals for therapy reflect an understanding of asthma as a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways characterized by recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing. Clinical studies have shown that asthma can be effectively controlled by intervening to suppress and reverse the inflammation as well as treating the bronchoconstriction and related symptoms. Furthermore, early intervention to stop exposure to the risk factors that sensitized the airway may help improve the control of asthma and reduce medication needs. Experience in occupational asthma indicates that long-standing exposure to sensitizing agents may lead to irreversible airflow limitation.
The management of asthma can be approached in different ways, depending on the availability of the various forms of asthma treatment and taking into account cultural preferences and differing health care systems. The recommendations in this chapter reflect the current scientific understanding of asthma. They are based as far as possible on controlled clinical studies, and the text references many of these studies. For those aspects of the clinical management of asthma that have not been the subject of specific clinical studies, recommendations are based on literature review, clinical experience, and expert opinion of project members.
The recommendations for asthma management are laid out in five interrelated components of therapy: