Practical approaches to treating acute bronchospasm.

Both the National Asthma Education Prevention Program (NAEPP) guidelines for asthma and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) stress the importance of treating acute bronchospasm. Important steps for each disease are making a differential diagnosis, assessing the possibility of future exacerbations, applying disease management principles to prevent and/or treat bronchospasm exacerbations, identifying acutely ill patients, and determining when hospitalization or specialist referrals are appropriate.