Medically reviewed in February 2023
In this video, Keren Bakal, MD, explains how healthcare providers classify severe asthma, and what your healthcare provider needs to know about the asthma symptoms you are experiencing.
Transcript
In order to diagnose the severity of asthma, you really want to find out how often the person is experiencing the symptoms.
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Asthma symptoms can be different for different people, but generally speaking, most people will experience wheezing-- which is a whistling sound when you exhale--
chest tightness, or feeling pressure in the chest. A lot of people experience shortness of breath when their asthma flares up, and some might even
experience a cough. Some may experience all of these symptoms, some of these symptoms. It really varies, depending on the person.
In order to diagnose the severity of asthma, you really want to find out how often the person is experiencing the symptoms.
Is it once a week? Is it once a month? And also, are they experiencing these symptoms at night?
That actually gives you a lot of information. So if somebody is having nighttime symptoms of asthma every night, then they're going to be a severe asthmatic.
You also want to find out how often have they had flare-ups of this condition. Did they have four flare-ups this year?
Did they need medication for the flare-up? Did they go to the emergency room? So those are some of the ways you could determine
the severity of asthma. A flare-up, generally speaking, is a person
will experience those symptoms of asthma, so shortness of breath, chest tightness or wheezing. They may use their inhaler for those symptoms,
but they continue occurring. When that occurs, then we sometimes have to give medication short-term--
like an oral steroid-- to help calm down that flare-up. And if it's from an infection, we may give an antibiotic.
