Report on the new NAEPP guidelines
The following are the key messages that the GIP Report identifies:

1) Inhaled corticosteroids are the most effective anti-inflammatory medications for long-term management of persistent asthma.

2) All people with asthma should receive a written Asthma Action Plan to include instructions for daily medication and treatment of worsening asthma.

3) All patients should have an initial severity assessment with both objective and subjective measures to determine the initial level of therapy. This should cover impairment (current asthma status/control) and risk (risk of exacerbations, hospitalizations, etc., based on recent asthma history).

4) Follow-up asthma visits should measure level of control based on multiple measures, including symptoms, pulmonary function assessment, physical examination, and/or asthma questionnaires. This level of control should be used at that visit to determine whether therapy should be changed.

5) Asthma patients should be seen for planned follow-up visits at periodic intervals, not just when they are out of control.

6) Healthcare providers should identify triggering factors in the patient's environment and provide a multi-faceted strategy to reduce exposures to those triggers.

In future months, we will have recommendations for various implementation methods for these messages. I strongly urge the ACAAI to take a leadership role in getting this message out to specialists and non-specialists alike: physicians, nurse practitioners, PAs, patients, parents, teachers, school nurses — and any other person who touches a patient with asthma. There are numerous activities that can get this done, and it could cross over into many committees, etc.

Respectfully submitted,

William W. Storms, M.D.
ACAAI Representative to the NAEPP Committee