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Asthma: Identifying and Treating High-Risk Patients

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Great Health Care

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Abstract

Asthma is a generic, wastebasket term. It includes a group of complex, chronic inflammatory, multidimensional, markedly heterogeneous lung diseases that are similar enough to be lumped under the rubric “asthma.” This chapter summarizes our incomplete understandings about the causes, the disordered physiology, and the clinical variability of asthma; the principles of its diagnosis and treatment; and the need to move from usual to anticipatory care for best short- and long-term patient outcomes and costs. I will spend considerable space discussing asthma risk, severity, control, and treatment responsiveness because these concepts interact in guiding asthma management for individual patients and populations. I conclude by describing a system-based approach we have developed at Advocate Health Care that has improved outcomes for our urban patients with high-risk asthma.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Allergy/Immunology, Advocate Health Care, Chicago, IL, USA

    Michael B. Foggs MD

Authors
  1. Michael B. Foggs MD
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Correspondence to Michael B. Foggs MD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin, Rheumatology Division Department of Medicine, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    J. Timothy Harrington

  2. Division of Medicine, Department of Rheumatology Clinical Innovations, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA

    Eric D. Newman

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Foggs, M.B. (2012). Asthma: Identifying and Treating High-Risk Patients. In: Harrington, J., Newman, E. (eds) Great Health Care. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1198-7_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1198-7_18

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-1197-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-1198-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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