ABSTRACT

The goal in the treatment of asthma patients is to achieve and maintain disease control. International guidelines recommend periodic assessments to measure the level of asthma control and thus make changes in long-term treatment. The clinical test of asthma control (Asthma Control Test, ACT) has been internationally validated in adult and pediatric patients with asthma and has been significantly correlated with the current control and future risk of asthma; also it has been associated with spirometry and measurements of inflammation. However, it is recommended that, as much as possible, a multidimensional evaluation, with clinical, functional tests and measurements of inflammation (exhaled nitric oxide fraction) is performed in the same patient, since it is possible that some individuals are clinical under-evaluators, who report feeling good in clinical tests and who have impaired lung function and/or have high levels of inflammatory markers, on the other hand there are patients who report feeling ill, when lung function is normal and no inflammation in the airway. Multidimensional evaluation gain insight into the control level in patients with asthma and thus seek a better treatment option according the asthma phenotype, in addition to investigate the adherence to the use of controller medications, and stimulates the physician to search for differential diagnoses and comorbidities in patients with asthma who are not controlled. We present five cases of patients with asthma who underwent multidimensional assessment of control.

KEYWORDS

Multidimentional evaluation of control, asthma.

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