Asthma information for all

Information to control asthma , prevent asthma attacks and deaths:  Updated  June 8th 2023

Dr Mark L Levy FRCGP: @bigcatdoc ; @ginasthma

People with asthma can ensure they keep safe by learning as much about asthma as possible. In this way you can learn what questions to ask your doctor and what you could expect for your or your child’s asthma care. Health care professionals of course need access to the most up to date information to keep their patient’s asthma well controlled in order to prevent attacks.

This page contains information and links to resources and publications on asthma. There is a podcast that explains the rationale and use of this information and you can listen to the podcast as well as my other podcasts on asthma at: https://bigcatdoc.com/podcast-asthma-spotlight-2/ and on spotify and Apple Podcasts

Examples of innovative implementation to improve asthma care:

National and International Societies for people with asthma:

International Patient associations:

Self management plans to help control asthma to prevent attacks and hospital admission.

Monitoring and checking your asthma control:

Specialist Medical Societies: These societies all work to improve the health of people with asthma (and other diseases)- many of their events and educational videos and materials are accessible online . Some of these also have patient working groups and patient representatives.

International professional respiratory / asthma organisations:

Patient resources from GINA and specialist societies available in Individual countries: These ones listed are those that I’m aware of that have patient representatives or resources for people with asthma

Guidance and Guidelines to control asthma to prevent attacks and hospitalisation

Some examples of Country specific Asthma Guidelines on diagnosis, control, treatment and asthma self-management:

Further Reading and some lectures / webinars:

  • National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) – this was a review of asthma deaths during the year from February 2012 in the United Kingdom. A panel of 176 doctors, nurses and pharmacists with expertise in asthma were tasked with assessing the medical records to determine if i) These people had evidence of asthma; ii) If these people died from asthma and iii)  if there were any lessons that could be learned from these sad cases: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/why-asthma-still-kills
  • This is a link to a half hour webinar I did on the post attack review – if you have had an asthma attack, it means that something serious went wrong and therefore by listening to this talk that was intended for health care professionals, you can find out what to expect, and to ask for when you attend your doctor for a check-up or review after you had an attack
  • Chapter on acute asthma: SIGN/BTS 158 (2019) https://www.brit-thoracic.org.uk/quality-improvement/guidelines/asthma/ (Ch 9) – this was last updated in 2019, and the chapter on acute asthma is helpful for assessment by health professionals and also for people with asthma (and parents of children with asthma)
  • Article summarising GINA 2022 recommendations – intended for General Practitioners and General physicians and Paediatricians – and may be useful for people with asthma to understand how some treatment decisions are based on evidence and used by doctors: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41533-023-00330-1
  • JACI Paper on MART- this is an article explaining Maintenance and Reliever Treatment for asthma which also includes a link to a MART self management plan : https://www.jaci-inpractice.org/article/S2213-2198(21)01128-4/fulltext

Training Resources on Asthma for doctors and nurses:

UK Resources:

Press

Correct use of inhaler images can help to educate people with asthma and health care professionals. The blue reliever inhalers are NOT intended for regular use – they are for emergency use and for temporary relief of symptoms. For royalty free images available from IPCRG click here

Occupational Asthma – some resources:

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