[A new system for classifying bronchial asthma].

Classification of bronchial asthma with Rackemann's system or Swineford's system is too simple to be clinically useful. We developed a new system for classifying patients with asthma. Patients were assigned a "0" or a "1" for each of five criteria: the presence or absence of (1) steroid dependence, (2) allergy, and (3) sensitivity to aspirin, and whether or not their asthma was judged to be (4) hereditary and (5) infectious. For example, patients who were sensitive to aspirin and whose asthma was judged to be of the infectious type were classified as 00101. A total of 434 patients with asthma were studied (185 males and 249 females, ranging in age from 10 to 93 years). The patients were classified into 32 subtypes (shown in an accompanying table), and the data were compared to the results of classification by other methods. The present system may be more useful than those of Rackeman or Swineford, because it takes heredity and sensitivity to aspirin into account. A total of 103 patients could not be classified by Swineford's system: those in classes 00000, 00010, 00100, 00110, 10000, 10010, 10100, and 10110. We expect this new system for classifying bronchial asthma to be clinically useful.