. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jan 1.

Published in final edited form as: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Jan;125(1):79–84. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2009.11.028

Table 1.

Key Findings in the Care of Adults with Asthma in 2009

• There is an ongoing effort to promote standardization and validation of outcomes for asthma–related research.³⁸, ⁶³-⁶⁶

• The TSLP gene is associated with self-reported doctor-diagnosed asthma¹¹

• The current HEDIS criterion of asthma quality of care (at least 1 controller-medication filling) is less predictive of a good clinical outcome than a controller-to-total asthma medication ratio of at least 50%¹⁷

• Inhaled mannitol is a diagnostic test with high specificity and is best used to diagnose asthma, while methacholine and histamine bronchoprovocation tests are best used to rule out asthma²⁵

• FENO was not predictive of maximum symptom days reported by adolescents²¹

• Total IgE was associated only with self-reported asthma among persons with positive allergen specific IgE and has no role as a biomarker for asthma in the general population²²

• The placebo effect has its greatest influence on self-reported outcomes rather than measures of lung function³⁸

• Achieving health equity will require interventions at many levels with attention to patient and provider beliefs, patient-provider communication, social and financial barriers to access, and patient poverty³⁸, ⁶³-⁶⁶