Early diagnosis and treatment of asthma by primary care physicians according to the newest guidelines GINA 2019

Asthma is a complex disease whose incidence is constantly increasing in Poland. To reduce the effects of the disease, it is necessary to recognize it early and treat it properly. Primary healthcare physicians play an important role in this process. This article discusses in detail the problems of diagnosis and treatment based on the latest guidelines of experts from the Global Initiative for Asthma GINA 2019. Despite the great progress in the diagnosis and treatment of asthma, this disease is still associated with a risk of premature death. Asthma mortality has even increased in some countries over the past decade, which is associated with the patients abusing short-acting -mimetics (SABA) and not using inhaled glucocorticosteroids (ICS) at appropriate doses. Therefore, since then SABA are no longer recommended by experts for use as monotherapy, in any form of this disease, even as rescue medications. In the new guidelines, experts recommend that all adults and adolescents suffering from asthma, regardless of the degree of control and intensity of treatment, receive ICS – periodically or chronically, preferably in a rigid combination with formoterol, in doses and a schedule depending on the degree of intensity of treatment providing good disease control.