Alert: New Global Guidelines for the Treatment of Asthma
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) established the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) in 1993 in order to increase awareness about asthma among health professionals, public health authorities, and the community, and to improve asthma prevention and management through a coordinated worldwide effort.
The GINA Scientific Committee conducts a twice-yearly cumulative review of the literature and has published the GINA report annually since 2002. In 2019, GINA undertook a comprehensive review of the risks and consequences of commencing asthma treatment with short-acting β2-agonists (SABAs) alone and evaluated the impact on asthma exacerbation and deaths of any form of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) in mild asthma.
The 2019 GINA report Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention concludes there is sufficient evidence to recommend that adults and adolescents with asthma should not be treated with SABAs alone. Instead, they should receive either symptom-driven (in mild asthma) or daily ICS-containing treatment in order to reduce risk of serious exacerbation and asthma-related death.
For more information and additional resources, including a pocket guide for health professionals, providers may visit the GINA website.