The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Multicenter study of chronic asthma severity among emergency department patients with acute asthma.
The initiation of controller therapy for asthma depends on chronic asthma severity. To facilitate initiation of inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs), the preferred controller therapy, in the emergency department (ED), the objective of the study was to describe chronic asthma severity, as defined by the national asthma guidelines, among children presenting to the ED with acute asthma. ⋯ The high prevalence of persistent asthma among ED patients exceeds the prevalence reported previously, and supports ED initiation of ICS, as recommended by national guidelines.