Updated national guidance launched to help reduce asthma attacks

National guidance on the management of asthma has been launched by the British Thoracic Society, and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network.

The updated guidance is focused on supporting health professionals to make accurate diagnoses and provide effective treatments to control asthma and prevent life-threatening asthma attacks.

The guideline emphasises that there is not a single test that can definitively diagnose asthma and an individual’s asthma status can change over time. It is designed to help health professionals to assign patients into three groups based on the probability they have asthma; either high, intermediate or low. It then summarises the key treatment and management actions to be taken for each group.