Consequences of Airway Remodeling to the Patient

There is a wide range of clinical stages in the asthmatic population, e.g., a patient with 50 years’ symptom history and a patient who has wheezed for a week. The two patients need different treatment strategies, but anti-inflamma­ tory medication is essential for both. Some patients seem to have severe and chronic asthma from the very beginning (many of them having nonallergic asthma manifested in association with a respiratory infection). But many pa­ tients have a mild disease for decades and no signs of progressive airway changes.