Photo Credit: Andrey Popov

A novel asthma burden score accurately assesses asthma severity and predicts remission, according to findings published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Using data from the Severe Asthma Research Program III (SARP III) and the European Unbiased Biomarkers for the Prediction of Respiratory Disease Outcomes (U-BIOPRED), Eugene Bleecker, MD, and colleagues calculated a composite burden score based on asthma exacerbations, healthcare utilization, and short-acting beta agonist use. According to the European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society definition, 59% of SARP III participants had severe asthma. Of these, 34% had a burden score below 1.29 per patient year. Of U-BIOPRED participants classified as having non-severe asthma, 27% had high burden scores. A burden score ≤0.15 predicted asthma remission with sensitivity >91% and specificity of 99%. “Our findings highlight considerable discrepancies between the current definition of asthma severity and our burden score,” the authors wrote. “Subject to prospective validation, the burden score could help optimize the management of high-risk individuals with asthma.”