Chapter 1: Definition, description and diagnosis
Key changes
• A new definition of asthma
• Practical tools
Clinical flow-chart for diagnosis of asthma and table of diagnostic criteria
Advice about confirming asthma diagnosis in patients already on treatment, and in special populations, including pregnant women and the elderly
Rationale for change
Improving the diagnosis of asthma is the first step to improving outcomes. At a global level asthma is both under- [2] and over-diagnosed [15–18], with under-diagnosis contributing to unnecessary burden for patients and families and increased costs for the health system, and over-diagnosis increasing treatment costs and exposing patients to unnecessary risk of side-effects. Past “definitions” of asthma have been lengthy descriptions, focusing on types of inflammatory cells, hyperresponsiveness, symptoms, and the assumed relationship between these features. A key priority for GINA was that the new definition should be feasible for use in diagnosing asthma in clinical practice, while also reflecting the complexity of asthma as a heterogeneous disease; the definition also needed to display flexibility within the context of rapidly emerging evidence that different mechanisms underlie the cardinal clinical features of variable respiratory symptoms and variable expiratory airflow limitation by which asthma is defined.
Chapter 1: Definition, description and diagnosisKey changes• A new definition of asthma• Practical toolsClinical flow-chart for diagnosis of asthma and table of diagnostic criteriaAdvice about confirming asthma diagnosis in patients already on treatment, and in special populations, including pregnant women and the elderlyRationale for changeImproving the diagnosis of asthma is the first step to improving outcomes. At a global level asthma is both under- [2] and over-diagnosed [15–18], with under-diagnosis contributing to unnecessary burden for patients and families and increased costs for the health system, and over-diagnosis increasing treatment costs and exposing patients to unnecessary risk of side-effects. Past “definitions” of asthma have been lengthy descriptions, focusing on types of inflammatory cells, hyperresponsiveness, symptoms, and the assumed relationship between these features. A key priority for GINA was that the new definition should be feasible for use in diagnosing asthma in clinical practice, while also reflecting the complexity of asthma as a heterogeneous disease; the definition also needed to display flexibility within the context of rapidly emerging evidence that different mechanisms underlie the cardinal clinical features of variable respiratory symptoms and variable expiratory airflow limitation by which asthma is defined.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
