MANAGING ASTHMA IN PRIMARY CARE

REVIEW

Managing Asthma in Primary Care: Putting New Guideline Recommendations Into Context
M E. W , MD therefore, they may not always prescribe adequate controller medication therapy.7 Physicians may also have an inadequate understanding of disease etiology or may not communicate well with patients, and these problems make it dif cult to establish a pharmacotherapeutic regimen that the patient is willing and able to follow.5 In light of the complexities inherent in the longterm management of asthma, national and international guidelines have been developed over the years to assist clinicians in caring for their patients. The use of guidelinebased treatment strategies has been shown to favorably …ver más…

This article is freely available on publication, because the authors have chosen the immediate access option. Individual reprints of this article are not available. Address correspondence to Michael E. Wechsler, MD, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 15 Francis St, PBB Lobby, Boston, MA 02115 (mwechsler@partners.org). © 2009 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research

Many patients with asthma are treated in the primary care setting. The primary care physician is therefore in a key position to recognize poorly controlled asthma and to improve asthma management for these patients. However, current evidence continues to show that, for a substantial number of patients, asthma control is inadequate for a wide variety of reasons, both physician-related and patient-related. The most recently updated treatment guidelines from the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program were designed to help clinicians, including primary care physicians, manage asthma more effectively with an increased focus on achieving and maintaining good asthma control over time. The current review is intended to assist primary care physicians in improving asthma control among their patients; this review clarifies the new guidelines and provides a specialist’s perspective on diagnosis,