Prediction of asthma exacerbation: does breath acidity perform better than FeNO?

摘要

The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines published in 2006 emphasized the importance of assessing asthma control, which is characterized by patients' symptoms, pulmonary function and quality of life. Because asthma is a highly variable disease, it is crucial to monitor the level of control on a periodic basis to decide whether therapy should be adjusted. A number of studies suggest that assessments of asthma symptoms, daily functioning, medication use, quality of life and lung function provide independent yet complementary information about asthma status. An unmet need of asthma management is for monitoring tools that may allow us to predict disease exacerbations.