New guidelines help keep asthma out of 'yellow zone'

If you have asthma, you may have an asthma action plan with a "stoplight system" to help you recognize and respond to changes and understand when symptoms are getting worse and need more attention. If you're in the green zone, you're doing well, yellow means your asthma has worsened and action is needed, and red means you require urgent care. New guidelines are now available to help your allergist steer you out of the yellow zone, back into green and away from the red zone.

"Management of acute loss of asthma control in the yellow zone: a practice parameter," is published in the August issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

The practice parameter was developed for providers to help their asthma patients understand what to do in the yellow zone to prevent moving into the red zone. The recommendations are intended to help patients recognize and treat acute loss of asthma control. They apply to the home setting only; not providers' offices, emergency departments or hospital settings. The ideal intervention, according to the new parameter should "provide quick relief of symptoms, prevent progression to the red zone, be safe enough to initiate at home, be convenient and practical for self-administration, be portable so that it is always available and be cost-effective."