From the authors:
We would like to thank Z. Pond and co-workers for their interest in our recent editorial with regard to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Asthma Challenge [1]. We are also delighted by their enthusiasm, in terms of embracing this concept, and framing the issue in the context of their local population. We recognise that the GINA recommendations provide a framework for the management of asthma in the general population of patients [2], but it is also recognised, within the body of the document, that management needs to be individualised. As Z. Pond and co-workers have outlined patient management must go beyond the appropriate prescription of medications, but also take account of the sociocultural factors [3, 4] as well as the importance of psychological issues as outlined in their audit [5]. We also feel that the assessment of the phenotype of asthma patients should take account of these factors as they are likely to contribute to an increased risk of hospitalisation. We strongly recommend that others embrace this approach of adapting locally our global challenge to reduce asthma hospitalisations. We suggest that by using the GINA asthma strategy as a framework for achieving asthma control that we can move closer to achieving our ultimate aim of reducing morbidity and mortality associated with this global public health challenge. It should be noted that our challenge of a 50% reduction in hospitalisations is targeted at a general population level and we appreciate that this may not be feasible in a more specialised setting, such as Z. Pond and co-workers working at a tertiary or quaternary level.
Footnotes
Statement of Interest
Statement of interests for J.M. FitzGerald, L-P. Boulet, T. Haahtela and M.L. Levy can be found at www.erj.ersjournals.com/site/misc/statements.xhtml
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