[Clinical approach of asthma (author's transl)]

The identification of asthma is based on the analysis of clinical data. The integration of such individual and subtle information into the field of epidemiology requires that these data be comparable, collective, and suitable for statistical use. With this in mind, only a broad conception of the asthmatic condition, with a specific definition, would eliminate the possibility of not recognizing an asthmatic subject in a given group. A fundamental basis is given in a general questionnaire which enables a qualitative and quantitative evaluation, the establishment of a scale of severity, and a nosologic classification of asthma. This questionnaire should eventually include specific questions adapted to the objectives of the investigation to be carried out.