NICE recommends new ways to diagnose and manage asthma

In November NICE published new clinical guideline Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring, and chronic asthma management. It covers diagnosing, monitoring and managing asthma in adults, young people and children. It aims to improve the accuracy of diagnosis, help people to control their asthma and reduce the risk of asthma attacks. It does not cover managing severe asthma or acute asthma attacks.

NICE recommends objective tests, which include spirometry and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), to help confirm a diagnosis of asthma. Spirometry tests assess how well lungs work by measuring how much air they inhale and exhale, and how quickly; FeNO tests measure the levels of nitric oxide in the breath. Increased levels of nitric oxide are thought to be related to lung inflammation and asthma. These tests help achieve more accurate diagnosis and therefore more effective treatment.

Alongside the consultation, the Board is supporting the ambitions outlined in the Life Science Industrial Strategy; by prioritising the research needs of the NHS, ensuring there is strengthened local and regional support for research and innovation and simplifying how innovative treatments break through to become routine care.

The consultation will run for 9 weeks and is live on the NHS England website.

See full details in the English here.

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