Unlocking Asthma Remission: Key Insights From an Expert Roundtable Discussion

Area of Science:

• Pulmonology
• Precision Medicine
• Asthma Research

Background:

• Severe asthma treatment is shifting towards a remission-focused paradigm.
• Current definitions of asthma remission lack standardization and vary in rigor.
• Understanding the strengths and limitations of remission as a concept is crucial for advancing treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the concept of treatment-induced clinical remission in severe asthma.
• To gather expert consensus on the utility and challenges of defining asthma remission.
• To identify future research needs for refining asthma remission criteria.

Main Methods:

• A roundtable discussion involving 27 severe asthma experts.
• Narrative synthesis and summarization of expert discussions.
• Analysis of current definitions and proposed parameters for asthma remission.

Main Results:

• Experts reported that 1 in 3 to 1 in 5 patients on targeted therapies achieve low disease activity.
• There is unanimous agreement on the clinical, policy, and scientific utility of "clinical remission."
• Significant variability in reported remission rates exists due to differing definitions; confounding factors must be considered.

Conclusions:

• Treatment-induced clinical remission is a feasible and valuable goal in severe asthma management.
• Further research is essential to establish an acceptable and precise definition of asthma remission.
• Incorporating patient perspectives is vital for future research and definition refinement.