Complexity of chronic asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: implications for risk assessment, and disease progression and control

Frey, Urs; Suki, Béla (2008). Complexity of chronic asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: implications for risk assessment, and disease progression and control. Lancet, 372(9643), pp. 1088-99. London: Elsevier 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61450-6

Full text not available from this repository.

Although assessment of asthma control is important to guide treatment, it is difficult since the temporal pattern and risk of exacerbations are often unpredictable. In this Review, we summarise the classic methods to assess control with unidimensional and multidimensional approaches. Next, we show how ideas from the science of complexity can explain the seemingly unpredictable nature of bronchial asthma and emphysema, with implications for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We show that fluctuation analysis, a method used in statistical physics, can be used to gain insight into asthma as a dynamic disease of the respiratory system, viewed as a set of interacting subsystems (eg, inflammatory, immunological, and mechanical). The basis of the fluctuation analysis methods is the quantification of the long-term temporal history of lung function parameters. We summarise how this analysis can be used to assess the risk of future asthma episodes, with implications for asthma severity and control both in children and adults.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Further Contribution)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine
UniBE Contributor:	Frey, Urs Peter
ISSN:	0140-6736
ISBN:	18805337
Publisher:	Elsevier
Language:	English
Submitter:	Anette van Dorland
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 15:03
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:19
Publisher DOI:	10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61450-6
PubMed ID:	18805337
Web of Science ID:	000259648500035
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/27192 (FactScience: 104922)