Evaluating the risk of severe asthma

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A new study looks at the risk factors influencing severe asthma attacks.
In many cases, people manage their asthma well. But a small number are subject to severe attacks requiring hospitalization. In a few cases, such attacks may prove fatal. Researchers at Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands, now present data on the factors that may result in a severe asthma attack.

They looked at 136 patients and found five factors - not specifically related to asthma itself - were influential in triggering severe attacks. These were psychiatric illness, chronic sinusitis, severe heartburn, respiratory infection and obstructive sleep apnea. Patients who had severe attacks had at least one factor and half of them had three or more factors. Addressing these problems may, therefore, have the benefit of bringing the patient's asthma under better control.

Source
European Respiratory Journal November 2005

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