Optimizing childhood asthma management: the role of national institutes of health-sponsored study groups.

摘要

Advances in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored guidelines for asthma management result in part from how these guidelines serve as a target for improvement. Taking this perspective, we can ask what features of the guidelines are of central importance but are inadequately understood? What features are difficult to implement and would benefit from a major advance in our approach? One effort to further such advancements also comes from the NIH through their support of childhood asthma study groups that aim to improve childhood asthma management. These study groups include the Childhood Asthma Management Program, the Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network and the Inner City Asthma Consortium. The main objective of this article is to provide some insight to these NIH-supported childhood asthma study groups and their recently completed or ongoing studies. This should provide an understanding of the strengths of these initiatives, their contribution to the evidence basis that is a cornerstone of optimal management, and the current main themes in these efforts to improve and advance childhood asthma management.