[Global Initiative for Asthma Management and Prevention--GINA 2006].

GINA together with many other national guidelines for the clinical management of asthma recommend a disease severity assessment in order to determine the quantity and frequency of medication. This classification scheme groups patients into one of four categories (intermittent, mild-persistent, moderate-persistent, and severe-persistent). However, it is important to recognise that asthma severity includes both severity of the underlying disease and responsiveness to treatment. In addition, severity is not an unvarying feature in any individual asthma patient and disease severity may change over months or years. Thus, for ongoing asthma management, classification using the level of control may be more relevant and useful in clinical practice. The new version of the GINA guidelines 2006 recognises these limitations of severity assessment and classifies the condition according to the level of control as "controlled", "partly controlled", and "uncontrolled" asthma on the basis of daytime symptoms, restrictions of physical activity, nocturnal symptoms/awakening, need for reliever/rescue medication, lung function (PEF or FEV1) and the frequency of exacerbations. In addition, the patient is assigned to one of five treatment "steps". Each step represents treatment options that are alternatives for controlling asthma. Moreover, steps 1 to 5 provide options of increasing efficacy. In order to maintain asthma control regular monitoring and adjustment is essential. In cases where asthma is not or only partially controlled with the current treatment regimen, step-up treatment is recommended whereas disease control allows a gradual stepping-down to the lowest possible dose of medication necessary to maintain control. This novel asthma management approach based on disease control, may facilitate acceptance and use of asthma guidelines in clinical practice.