During worsening asthma control, a self-management plan involving a temporary four-times increase in the dose of inhaled glucocorticoids reduced severe asthma exacerbations, according to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“Although plans for patients to manage their asthma (self-management plans) have been shown to improve asthma control, the previously recommended step of doubling the dose of inhaled glucocorticoids when asthma control is deteriorating is ineffective at preventing acute exacerbations,” Tricia McKeever, PhD, from the department of epidemiology and public health at the University of Nottingham, England, and colleagues wrote.

McKeever and colleagues conducted a trial to determine if a self-management plan that recommends that patients with asthma temporarily quadruple their dose of inhaled glucocorticoids when asthma control begins to decline reduces severe asthma exacerbations compared with usual care.