World Asthma Day on 1 May  is an annual event on organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) to improve asthma awareness and care around the world.

Cochrane Airways works with authors (typically clinicians and researchers) to produce systematic reviews on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis and other lung diseases, and asthma. To mark this day, the Cochrane Airways Managing Editor, Emma Dennett, wrote a blog to talk about the outcomes of a patient workshop  they held and the reviews that followed. Below are a variety of Cochrane resources related to World Asthma Day.

• Find all of the Cochrane Reviews on acute asthma here, in the Cochrane Library.
• Find all of the Cochrane Reviews on chronic asthma here,  in the Cochrane Library.
• Find answers to various questions about asthma here, on Cochrane Clinical Answers.

Podcasts

• Strategies to help people with asthma take their steroid inhaler as prescribed
• Different doses and durations of oral steroids for asthma attacks
• Increased versus stable doses of inhaled corticosteroids for exacerbations of chronic asthma in adults and children
• Stopping long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA) for adults with asthma well controlled by LABA and inhaled corticosteroids
• Intravenous magnesium sulfate for treating adults with acute asthma in the emergency department
• Holding chambers (spacers) versus nebulisers for beta-agonist treatment of acute asthma
• Swimming training for asthma in children and adolescents aged 18 years and under
• Overview of the safety of regular formoterol or salmeterol in children with asthma
• Physical training for asthma
• Remediating buildings damaged by dampness and mould for preventing or reducing respiratory tract symptoms, infections and asthma
• Injection allergen immunotherapy for asthma
• Single inhaler therapy for asthma
• Regular treatment with formoterol for chronic asthma: serious adverse events
• House dust mite control measures for asthma

Highlighted Cochrane Reviews

Asthma education for school staff (Related blog post)

Personalised asthma action plans for adults with asthma

Stopping long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA) for adults with asthma well controlled by LABA and inhaled corticosteroids

Stopping long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA) for children with asthma well controlled on LABA and inhaled corticosteroids

Different oral corticosteroid regimens for acute asthma

Shared decision-making for people with asthma

Pulse oximeters to self monitor oxygen saturation levels as part of a personalised asthma action plan for people with asthma

Lay-led and peer support interventions for adolescents with asthma

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for adults and adolescents with asthma