Medications and lifestyle recommendations to improve daily asthma control and prevent attacks should be tailored to each patient based on age and the changing course of the disease, new guidelines released Wednesday say.
"What's new is the emphasis on prevention," says Elizabeth Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. "In the past, physicians might have waited until symptoms were very severe before intervening." Now, she says, patients are urged to try preventing attacks.
One way to do that, she says, is for all patients to have a "daily action plan" that lists the environmental influences that can trigger their breathing problems, such as cigarette smoke or viral infections, along with needed medications and how they should be used.
The guidelines, created by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, an expert panel convened by the institute, offer the first update in 10 years on asthma management.
ASTHMA IN THE U.S. 
- 15.7 million adults (7.2%)
- 6.5 million children under 18 (8.9%)
- 3,780 deaths per year
Source: CDC
More info:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...idelines_N.htm
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