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The Brussels Declaration: the need for change in asthma management

¹ Infection, Inflammation and Repair AIR Division, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, ⁵ Dept of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, ⁶ Centre for Behavioural Medicine, School of Pharmacy, University of London, London, UK, ² Dept of Pediatrics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, ³ Dept of Medicine and Allergology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden, ⁴ Dept of Allergy, Skin and Allergy Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, ⁹ Finnish Society of Paediatrics, Helsinki, Finland, ⁷ Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, ⁸ Executive Office of the European Federation of Allergy and Airway Diseases Patients Association (EFA), Brussels, Belgium, ¹⁰ Dept of Medicine, The Charité University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

CORRESPONDENCE: S. Holgate, Infection, Inflammation and Repair AIR Division, Level F, South Block, MP810, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton, SO16 6YD, UK. Fax: 44 2380701771. E-mail: s.holgate{at}soton.ac.uk

Keywords: Asthma, management, the Brussels Declaration

Received: April 7, 2008
Accepted August 5, 2008

Asthma is a highly prevalent condition across Europe and numerous guidelines have been developed to optimise management. However, asthma can be neither cured nor prevented, treatment choices are limited and many patients have poorly controlled or uncontrolled asthma.

The Brussels Declaration on Asthma, sponsored by The Asthma, Allergy and Inflammation Research Charity, was developed to call attention to the shortfalls in asthma management and to urge European policy makers to recognise that asthma is a public health problem that should be a political priority.

The Declaration urges recognition and action on the following points: the systemic inflammatory component of asthma should be better understood and considered in assessments of treatment efficacy; current research must be communicated and responded to quickly; the European Medicines Agency guidance note on asthma should be updated; "real world" studies should be funded and results used to inform guidelines; variations in care across Europe should be addressed; people with asthma should participate in their own care; the impact of environmental factors should be understood; and targets should be set for improvement.

The present paper reviews the evidence supporting the need for change in asthma management and summarises the ten key points contained in the Brussels Declaration.

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