Figure 1.

The frequency of the minor criteria from the American Thoracic Society definition of severe asthma in adult subjects in the Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP). Taken together, the total number of minor criteria for each subject can be used as a surrogate of asthma control, both impairment (rescue and controller medication use) and risk (health care utilization [HCU] and pulmonary function). Each bar indicates the percent of subjects with zero to seven total minor criteria within the mild, moderate, and severe asthma groups. There is heterogeneity in all asthma severity groups, indicative of a mixture of subjects with different levels of asthma control. Blue, mild asthma; green, moderate asthma; orange, subjects with severe asthma being treated with high doses of inhaled corticosteroids; red, subjects with severe asthma being treated with chronic oral corticosteroids.