[From diagnosis of asthma to chronic disease]

Asthma patients, in their daily life, may experience 3 different situations needing 3 types of management: attack (which is an emergency issue); post-attack period (very often under-diagnosed and under-treated, what is one of the major relapse factors); stable state (which should be the "natural" state of any chronic patient). Despite the availability of very active treatments, asthma still represents an handicap for many patients, and mortality rates go unchanged. All this has lead to issue asthma severity scales and consensus therapeutic management guidelines. Promoting and implementing these guidelines is the only way for improving asthma management.