Month: August 2019

For the past several years, the trend has been to use inhaled corticosteroid(ICS) early and often for patients with asthma. And now the 2019 Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines recommend using ICS as first-line therapy (step 1) as needed).[1] This change is sure to increase ICS use even more. The logic behind using ICS early and often is sound, but when it comes to asthma, nothing is simple. The first problem is that asthma is overdiagnosed (some estimates put the rate as high as 30%-35%).[2] Even when the diagnosis is correct, up to 50% of patients with the disease ... Read more