Chronic Asthma- Management

Question 1

Long-term goals of asthma management

Answer 1

Symptom control and risk reduction

Question 2

After assessing symptom control and the patient is well-controlled, what can you do?

Answer 2

Maintain therapy or step down if it’s been well controlled for ≥3 months

May retrospectively assess severity once controlled for several months

Question 3

What to do with the ICS when stepping down therapy

Answer 3

Reduce the ICS dose by 25-50% at 2-3 month intervals

If the current therapy is a low-dose ICS or LTRA, PRN Symbicort is a step-down option

Question 4

After assessing symptom control and the patient is partly controlled or uncontrolled, what should you do?

Answer 4

Check adherence and inhaler technique

Step up 1 step if adherence and technique aren’t issues

Review trigger management