Evidence-based On-call

internal medicine

Asthma exacerbation

Prevalence
Clinical features
Differential Diagnosis
Investigations
Therapy
Prevention
Prognosis

Prevalence

Watch out for hypercapnia ^c

and respiratory failure ^c

Note:

9% of acute severe attacks have respiratory failure (defined as pO₂ < 8 kPa and/ or pCO₂ > 6 kPa ) ^c
A quarter of patients have pCO₂ > 5 kPa. ^c

Expiry date: November 2003
Levels of Evidence used in grading these guides

Authors	B Wong , CM Ball
Reviewer	B R O'Driscoll
CAT Writers	B Wong , CM Ball