Review of the NAEPP 2007 Expert Panel Report (EPR-3) on Asthma Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines

In 1989, the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) convened an expert panel to develop a report that would provide a general approach to the treatment of asthma. Expert Panel Report: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma, or EPR-1, was published in 1991 and was subsequently updated with 2 other reports, EPR-2 in 1997 and the EPR update in 2002. Advances in science and a greater understanding of the pathophysiology of asthma prompted the NAEPP to convene a 3rd expert panel in 2004. After nearly 3 years of work, Expert Panel Report 3: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma-Full Report 2007, or EPR-3, was released on August 29, 2007. EPR-3 update from the NAEPP provides health care professionals with new information to improve the care of patients with asthma, including (1) more comprehensive discussion of asthma severity with expanded descriptions of impairment and risk, (2) increased focus on asthma control as a goal of therapy, and (3) expanded discussion of pharmacologic therapy for asthma with updated treatment algorithms.