Asthma Management: A Review of GINA Recommendations from 2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58931/cait.2021.117Abstract
Asthma is a chronic condition that affects more than 3.8 million people in Canada. It is a condition that if not controlled may result in significant morbidity and mortality. Asthma is the leading cause of absenteeism from school and one of the leading causes of work loss through both absenteeism and presenteeism. The direct costs of asthma, including hospitalization, healthcare professional services and medication and indirect costs, including decreased productivity, are estimated at $2.1 billion annually. The cost of asthma to the Canadian economy is expected to climb to $4.2 billion annually by 2030.
While many detrimental consequences of asthma stem from the condition itself, a significant proportion of the morbidity associated with asthma is also a result of systemic corticosteroids used to treat asthma exacerbations. There are many factors that lead to uncontrolled asthma, such as inappropriate and/or inadequate treatment of the condition. Access to appropriate treatment for realistic and achievable disease management, is critical in reducing the likelihood of experiencing an asthma exacerbation
The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Scientific Committee has developed a sophisticated set of procedures to review the world’s literature with regard to asthma management and to update the GINA documents to reflect this state-of-the-art information. The output is a report entitled Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention complete with teaching slides and an abridged “pocket guide” of the main report’s recommendations. All of this is made freely available at ginasthma.org. and includes an update to reflect the COVID-19 pandemic. The GINA report is not a set of guidelines but, rather, an “integrated evidence-based strategy focusing on translation into clinical practice”for health care practitioners with the goal of reducing both short- and long-term asthma exacerbations and adverse events.
This article will focus on the key changes to the latest iteration of GINA recommendations for asthma management.
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