Asthma: a brief overview.

Asthma, a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by reversible airway obstruction, is a substantial health problem without regard for age, gender, or ethnicity. Guidelines have been established to provide clinicians with evidence-based recommendations to assist in the diagnosis and management of asthma. This review offers a brief overview of the current understanding of the pathogenesis and definition of asthma, the diagnosis and classification of asthma, and the pharmacologic therapy of asthma in adults. Further studies are required to determine whether the development of new targeted treatments will be effective in the management of asthma.