Swiss Severe Asthma Register

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases. Asthma is characterized by chronic airway inflammation and associated with airway hyperresponsiveness and reversible airflow obstruction. The variability of airway obstruction is triggered by different factors that lead to a variety of different asthma phenotypes and subtypes. The various classification options for asthma (e.g. severity, by the predominantly existing inflammation or according to triggers), reflect its heterogeneity.

Despite improved therapeutic methods, the prevalence and morbidity of asthma has increased worldwide in the last years. Asthma is a serious and growing global health problem with around 300 million people affected, independent of age or sex. Estimated 250'000 people die prematurely each year due to their asthma.

Based on the SAPALDIA-study, the prevalence of Asthma in Switzerland is approximately 2-8%. Asthma is considered as a major factor in healthcare cost with up to CHF 1.2 billion per year. Asthma is not only a financial burden to a system; it affects the individual Quality of life negatively. Often health care professionals and patients underestimate the severity of the disease and overestimate asthma control. Severe asthma should not be equated with uncontrolled asthma. To reach a satisfying asthma control numerous factors need to be taken into consideration. Severe asthma is often associated with a high risk of frequent, severe exacerbations, which can even lead to death.

Several severe asthma cohorts and registries already exists and are reported in the literature. The aim of such registries is in general data collection and a better understanding of the disease. So far, most epidemiological studies on severe asthma are cross-sectional with no follow up measures. Only a few studies did repeated measures using the same methods.

Approximately 5% of all Asthma Patients suffers from severe asthma. These patients require systematic assessment and specialist care in dedicated respiratory centres. These centres have a key role in improving the outcome for severe asthma patients. At the same time they act as gatekeepers to ensure appropriate access to new, expensive therapies, this includes antibody treatment and interventional methods such as thermoplasty. These treatments require careful monitoring. It is important to ensure that they are given to the right population. Special assessment to monitor the efficacy and to prevent inappropriate prescribing, exposure of patients to unnecessary risks and excessive costs is indicated.

For all the mentioned reasons a Swiss Severe Asthma Register and a collaboration with an already existing register is needed to prospectively collect data about severe asthma in Switzerland.