Unfulfilled expectations in asthma

Despite imposing advances in understanding and therapy of asthma there is little progress in some important clinical outcomes. Asthma morbidity and medication use have been increasing worldwide, and mortality, even if rare, has shown only a minimal decline. Asthma is a variable disease with high morbidity. It limits patients physically, emotionally, and socially. As concerns children, it interferes with school and play and adversely affects social development. In adults it impedes performance at work, completion of household tasks, and participation in recreational activities. In elderly people it undermines functional status and leads to the loss of autonomy.