Asthma: Is the Outlook Better for Older Males?

Current asthma management guidelines published by the NIH call for health care providers to monitor the level of severity and control of asthma patients on a regular basis. Risk is an important component in the decision process of stepping up or down controller therapy. Perhaps further support of the findings in this study will lead to special considerations in older female patients regarding the assessment of AWR and the use of long-term controllers.

There is very little published information on the natural course of asthma. Millions of dollars on research has remarkably identified asthma as a very complex disease syndrome that has many presentations (cough, wheeze, shortness of breath, chest tightness) and highly variable responses to medications and other interventions.

One shoe does not fit all in the management process of asthma but as we learn more about the mechanisms of this disease that impacts more than 20 million people in the US, we can further sharpen our approach to the achievement of individualized care for difficult to treat patients.

 Sorry, you won't likely grow out of asthma but the good news is you can lead a healthy and productive life, in remission, with good asthma control and adequate follow-up with your doctor.

Are you an adult female with asthma? Are you concerned about your risk?

What do you think about this latest development in research?