Definition, Epidemiology, Impact of the disease

Abstract

Severe asthma is a heterogeneous, chronic inflammatory disease that remains uncontrolled despite optimized treatment and resolved contributing factors. Estimates of the prevalence of the disease fluctuate widely, between 3.6% and 10%, perhaps due to the problem in obtaining reliable statistics, caused by difficulties in accessing health care. It represents approximately 60% of the direct costs of asthma for private or public health systems. Despite the free availability of inhaled corticosteroids for the treatment of asthma in Brazil, the number of hospitalizations and deaths remains high. The number of deaths was higher in females and in individuals over 60 years of age. This group has more frequent exacerbations, has a higher prevalence of multiple comorbidities, makes frequent use of oral corticosteroids, and suffers from adverse side effects related to medication. The disease imposes debilitating burdens in the long run. Personalized therapy induced a significant improvement in clinical, functional, and occupational parameters in this group of patients with severe asthma.