Components of severity | Classification of asthma severity (children 5 to 11 years of age) |
Intermittent | Persistent |
Mild | Moderate | Severe |
Impairment | Symptoms | ≤2 days/week | >2 days/week, but not daily | Daily | Throughout the day |
Nighttime awakenings | ≤2 times/month | 3 to 4 times/month | >1 time/week, but not nightly | Often 7 times/week |
Short-acting beta2-agonist use for symptom control (not prevention of EIB) | ≤2 days/week | >2 days/week, but not daily | Daily | Several times per day |
Interference with normal activity | None | Minor limitation | Some limitation | Extremely limited |
Lung function | - Normal FEV1 between exacerbations
- FEV1 >80% predicted
- FEV1/FVC >85%
| - FEV1 = >80% predicted
- FEV1/FVC >80%
| - FEV1 = 60 to 80% predicted
- FEV1/FVC = 75 to 80%
| - FEV1 <60% predicted
- FEV1/FVC <75%
|
Risk | Exacerbations requiring oral systemic glucocorticoids | 0 to 1/year (see footnote) | ≥2 in 1 year (see footnote) |
Consider severity and interval since last exacerbation |
Frequency and severity may fluctuate over time for patients in any severity category |
Relative annual risk of exacerbations may be related to FEV1 |