To achieve and optimize symptom control, it is most important to understand underlying pathomechanisms. This is particularly true for severe asthma, where little is known about prevalence, incidence, pathogenesis, its natural course, potential phenotypes, treatment options and prognosis despite a considerable medical and socio-economic importance.
To close this gap of knowledge and to further our understanding of severe asthma it is therefore important to register, fully characterize and follow-up a large patient population. The number of severe asthma patients in a single center is usually small. This is why about 30 asthma centers in Germany joined efforts to form the German Asthma Net and initiated the German Asthma Net Registry as a national registry with the explicit perspective to include further European countries.
The current health care situation, diagnostic criteria and treatment of patients with severe asthma will be recorded in a structured manner. Additionally, differential diagnoses and comorbidities as well as cell and molecular biological parameters will be identified.
Furthermore, the Severe Asthma Registry will provide the basis to monitor patients long-term, and to facilitate the initiation, coordination and realization of clinical trials.