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Chest clinic
Guideline update
British guidelines on the management of asthma: what's new for 2011?
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  1. Steve Turner1,
  2. James Paton2,
  3. Bernard Higgins3,
  4. Graham Douglas4
  1. 1Department of Child Health, Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, Aberdeen, UK
  2. 2Department of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine and School of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, UK
  3. 3Respiratory Unit, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK
  4. 4Respiratory Unit, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Graham Douglas, Respiratory Unit, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, UK; graham.douglas{at}nhs.net

https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2011-200213

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    Since 1999 the British Guidelines on the Management of Asthma have been produced jointly by the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) using a rigorous evidence-based methodology. Sections within the guideline have been revised regularly, with the Pharmacological Management section being updated nearly every year. We believe this has resulted in a ‘living guideline’ that is responsive to new research and is current for clinicians. For 2011, two new sections have been added on Monitoring and Control and Asthma in Adolescents.

    Monitoring and control

    There is increasing awareness that current control is a good predictor of future exacerbations.1 There is also some evidence that biomarkers might be useful in predicting future asthma control.2 Perhaps not unexpectedly, this new section is able to identify more areas where evidence is lacking than where evidence can be found to support practice. In adults and children there is very little evidence that addition of biomarkers to validated symptom scores improves asthma control; indeed, most of the evidence points towards biomarkers not assisting in the management of asthma. Such biomarkers include peak expiratory flow, spirometry, bronchial hyper-responsiveness and exhaled nitric oxide (Feno). Although not …

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