Asthma: assess all patients for future attack risk and tailor care accordingly, new guideline advises

All patients with asthma should have their risk of having a future attack assessed and have their monitoring, treatment, and care tailored accordingly, new guidelines from the British Thoracic Society and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network have said.1

The guidance also recommend that patients whose asthma is not adequately managed through standard controller therapies should be referred for specialist care, as new treatments are becoming available that could be effective.

Clinicians and patients need to be aware of the effect of inhalers on global warming, and patients should be encouraged to ask their pharmacy about inhaler recycling, the guidance added.

More than five million people in the UK are currently being treated for asthma, and the …