Because nearly a third of people with asthma don't effectively control their condition, two groups of medical professionals who specialize in treating it have just released new guidelines on patient care. The recommendations, by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, urge doctors to carefully tailor their treatment to each person.

"Attaining Optimal Asthma Control: A Practice Parameter," published in the November Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, updates 1991 guidelines that emphasized the use of corticosteroids as a daily treatment. Those guidelines also urged doctors to classify their patients' conditions as mild, moderate, or severe. Once doctors diagnosed asthma and classified it, however, they often prescribed a standard treatment regimen that wasn't updated for years, according to James Li, chairman of the division of allergic diseases at the Mayo Clinic and one of the document's coauthors.

"Putting a patient in a pigeonhole was too crude a way to yield the best possible outcomes," says Li.

By contrast, the new guidelines recommend continually assessing the patients' lifestyles and conditions: how often they experience asthma symptoms, how often they use their rescue inhaler, and how asthma affects their sleep patterns, work, and exercise. Doctors are advised to test their patients' lung function more often and to encourage frequent checkups.

"We are hoping to empower people not to be satisfied with less than perfect control of their asthma: no limitations on work, exercise, no using rescue inhaler," says Li. "Most of our patients can attain that."

Find out more: Check out the U.S. News Asthma Center for more information.