Asthma Treatment Guidelines
Asthma information
Minimal or no chronic symptoms during the day or night. /li>
Minimal or no exacerbations. /li>
No limitations on activities; no school/work/parent's work missed. /li>
Peak flows (for older children that are able to do peak flows) greater than 80% of personal best. /li>
Minimal use of inhaled short acting beta2-agonists (less than once per day, less than one canister a month). /li>
Minimal or no adverse effects from medications./li>
If your child isn't meeting these goals, you should have your child visit the pediatrician for a reevaluation, to reclassify your child's asthma symptoms and to make adjustments in the treatment regimen for your child. Mild Intermittent: Symptoms less than or equal to 2 days a week or 2 nights a month. Peak flows greater than or equal to 80% of your child's personal best, with less than 20% variability in daily peak flow measurements. /li>
Mild Persistent: Symptoms more than 2 days a week, but less than once every day or more than 2 nights a month. Peak flows greater than or equal to 80% of your child's personal best, with less than 20-30% variability in daily peak flow measurements. /li>
Moderate Persistent: Daily symptoms or symptoms more than 1 night a week. Peak flows that are 60 to 80% of your child's personal best, or more than 30% variability in daily peak flow measurements. /li>
Severe Persistent: Continual daytime symptoms and frequent symptoms at night. Peak flows that are less than or equal to 60% of your child's personal best, or more than 30% variability in daily peak flow measurements.
The following is brief description of the new guidelines for asthma treatment guidelines for children. These asthma treatment guidelines were published by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program.
The basic premise of these guidelines is that your doctors should use a stepwise approach to manage asthma depending on the severity of the child's symptoms. For improving symptoms, a step down, or decrease in regular medications should be made. There should be a step up for worsening or poorly controlled symptoms until the following goals are met:
If your child isn't meeting these goals, you should have your child visit the pediatrician for a reevaluation, to reclassify your child's asthma symptoms and to make adjustments in the treatment regimen for your child.
How do you classify your child's asthma?
According to the guidelines, your child's asthma can be classified as:
Based on these classifications, your Pediatrician should be able to come up with a treatment plan using the preferred treatments of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program.
There are no asthma treatment guidelines published by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program for Adults with asthma however, according to the NHLBI Health Information Network, the same type of “stepwise” approach should be used for adults as well as children over the age of 5.
The guidelines make no mention of alternative treatments such as “Natural” asthma treatments in the guidelines for children. However, after consulting with your physician about the alternatives to check for any possible conflicts with your conventional treatment, such treatments could become an important aspect of your asthma treatment.
Also not included in the asthma treatment guidelines is any mention of dietary or environmental concerns in relation to preventing asthma associated attacks. These issues can be a very important aspect of asthma treatment as many foods and environmental conditions can trigger allergic reactions which can in turn trigger an asthma attack. Therefore, while following the conventional asthma treatment guidelines is important, it can be very beneficial to seek supplemental methods as well as practicing good dietary habits and becoming aware of any allergies you may have.
