Recent developments in asthma research, diagnosis, and treatment.

Asthma is a clinical syndrome that typically consists of increased airway hyperresponsiveness and recurrent episodes of airway obstruction and inflammation with subsequent remodeling. As one of the most common conditions seen in the primary care setting, asthma is of great interest to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC recently revealed that the prevalence of asthma between 2001 and 2009 increased in the US population from 7.3% (20.3 million individuals) to 8.2% (24.6 million individuals), representing a 12.3% increase.1 In addition, the CDC reported that individuals with low economic means are most commonly affected by asthma. The CDC further found that only 34.2% of persons with asthma reported that they had been given a written action plan by their health–care providers, and 68.1% of persons with asthma said they had been educated on the proper steps to take during an asthma attack.1