Severe Adult-Onset Asthma Is a Distinct Phenotype

Asthma is not a “one-size-fits-all” diagnosis but, rather, a heterogeneous disease with distinct phenotypes. Asthma phenotypes still are being defined (e.g., childhood vs. adult onset, atopic vs. nonatopic, eosinophilic vs. noneosinophilic). Adult-onset asthma can be relatively mild and easy to control or can be severe and treatment resistant. Researchers attempted to find clinical and laboratory markers associated with more-severe adult-onset asthma by comparing 78 Dutch patients with severe disease and 98 patients with mild-to-moderate disease.

Compared with patients who had mild-to-moderate disease, patients with severe disease were significantly more likely to have nasal polyposis, irreversible airflow obstruction, sputum eosinophilia, a…