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Review
. 2019 Nov;11(6):763-778.
doi: 10.4168/aair.2019.11.6.763.

Future Risks in Patients With Severe Asthma

Woo Jung Song  1 , Ji Hyang Lee  2 , Yewon Kang  3 , Woo Joung Joung  4 , Kian Fan Chung  5
Affiliations
Review

Future Risks in Patients With Severe Asthma

Woo Jung Song et al. Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2019 Nov.

Abstract

A major burden of severe asthma is the future risk of adverse health outcomes. Patients with severe asthma are prone to serious exacerbation and deterioration of lung function and may experience side effects of medications such as oral corticosteroids (OCSs). However, such future risk is not easily measurable in daily clinical practice. In particular, currently available tools to measure asthma control and asthma-related quality of life incompletely predict the future risk of medication-related morbidity. This is a significant issue in asthma management. This review summarizes the current evidence of future risk in patients with severe asthma. As future risk is poorly perceived by controlled asthmatics, our review focuses on the risk in patients with 'controlled' severe asthma. Of note, it is likely that long-term OCS therapy may not prevent future asthma progression, including lung function decline. In addition, the risk of drug side effects increases even during low-dose OCS therapy. Thus, novel treatments are highly desirable for reducing future risks without any loss of asthma control.

Keywords: Asthma; risk; severity.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no financial or other issues that might lead to conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Concepts of asthma control, asthma severity and future risk in severe asthmatics. Unlike other adverse asthma outcomes, future risk of medication side effects are not readily measurable in daily clinical practice for severe asthma.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Different future risks in patients with severe asthma according to their control status. The red line denotes a high likelihood of a relationship. The grey dotted line indicates an uncertain likelihood (lack of evidence for the relationship).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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