Current asthma management: the performance gap and economic consequences.

Despite the availability of effective antiasthmatic drugs, many patients have asthma that is not controlled, as reflected by an increased number of asthma-related hospitalizations and deaths as well as rising costs each year. Failure to achieve adequate control reflects a performance gap and clearly indicates that current asthma management is "missing the mark." There are many reasons for this performance gap and its economic consequences, including poor physician adherence to the 1997 asthma treatment guidelines drafted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, inadequate patient and physician education, a communication gap between physicians and patients, and the failure to institute appropriate therapy early enough.