Asthma Management in Special Populations
Faculty: Aidan A. Long, MD

The control of asthma is the goal for all asthma patients. However, certain populations have unique characteristics and needs that may affect their expression of asthma, response to medication, attitude toward the disease, and access to health care. Age, gender, race, and ethnicity all contribute to the variability of asthma in different individuals and populations. In this activity, we will review some of the issues to consider when treating women, children, older adults, and racial and ethnic minorities.

Asthma Management in Adults
Faculty: Christine A. Sorkness, MD

The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has very recently updated its recommendations for the management of asthma. These new guidelines, along with new guidelines from the Global Initiative on Asthma, emphasize the clinical control of asthma and acknowledge the variability and different expressions of this chronic disease. This webinar summarizes some of the key points of the new guidelines, reviews the stepwise pharmacologic management of asthma, and reaffirms the need for forming a strong partnership with the patient to achieve success.

Asthma: Disease Characterization
Faculty: William J. Calhoun, MD

Welcome to the first presentation in our series, Rethinking Asthma Control. How we think about asthma is changing rapidly, as experts debate the best ways to define the disease, classify it, and ultimately manage it most effectively. In this presentation, we will explore some of the many challenges of asthma—how to diagnose it, why it’s important to understand the nature of its progression, and how to identify which of our patients are most at risk. We will also address the latest recommendations for classifying our asthma patients and discuss some of the tools for assessing asthma, both current ones and those in development.