Brittle Asthma -What next in management?

Abstract

The term ‘brittle asthma’ was first used by Turner-Warwick (1977) to describe patients with asthma whose peak expiratory flow (PEF) varied ‘chaotically’ (follow no set pattern); which could lead to death from an a cute severe attack. Morbidity from brittle asthma is considerable, and we aim to identify causes and management strategies for such patients. Two types of Brittle asthma has been suggested; a feature of both types being a susceptibility to repeated severe attacks resulting in hospitalization & considerable morbidity and mortality. Data from asthma register (UK), suggests that the prevalence is the order of 0.05% of all asthmatics.