Table 4.

Criteria for referring a patient with difficult-to-treat asthma to a specialist

Patients should be referred if they meet ANY of the criteria below: below: Asthma is difficult to control or is persistent >2 oral corticosteroid bursts per year are needed Exacerbations have required hospitalization Therapy at step 4 or higher is required to achieve adequate asthma control Immunotherapy or therapy with omalizumab is being considered Additional testing is needed

Note: Reproduced from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.⁷