What is asthma?
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What is asthma?1
Asthma is one of the most common chronic immunological diseases in humans, affecting people from childhood to old age. This widespread condition has significant impacts on respiratory health.1
Asthma is caused by a chronic inflammation of the airways that causes obstruction, i.e. narrow airways, for longer or shorter periods. The disease can cause respiratory problems and asthma attacks, especially if your asthma is poorly controlled. In term, it can limit the possibilities for an active life.
Asthma causes many different symptoms2
Asthma can manifest itself differently in different people, but there are some common symptoms that many people experience. One of the most common symptoms is shortness of breath, which means that it can be difficult to breathe, especially during physical exertion or at night. Many people with asthma also experience wheezing; a wheezing or hissing sound when they exhale. Another common symptom is persistent coughing, which often gets worse at night or early in the morning. Increased mucus production is also common, and this mucus can be difficult to cough up.2
Diagnose and evaluate asthma
For millions of people, asthma symptoms are part of everyday life and something they have accepted as "normal". Take a moment and learn more about how to evaluate and diagnose asthma.
Is your asthma under control?
Here you quickly do a test that shows how serious your problems are. You may have had asthma symptoms for many years and think you probably have them under control? But what does it mean?
Different types of asthma3
Asthma can range in severity from mild to severe, and the classification is based on how often you have symptoms, how severe the symptoms are, and how much drug treatment you need to control the symptoms.
Mild asthma means that the symptoms are sporadic and do not affect daily activities to any great extent. Symptoms can include temporary shortness of breath, coughing or wheezing, most often with exertion, exposure to allergens or in case of a cold.
In moderate asthma, symptoms are more frequent and can affect daily activities and sleep. People with moderate asthma may experience symptoms several times a week and may need to use their inhalers regularly.3
Severe asthma means that the symptoms are continuous and severe, and greatly affect the quality of life. People with severe asthma may have daily symptoms and recurrent asthma attacks that require urgent care.4
Asthma is defined as uncontrolled if you experience discomfort despite following a treatment plan. The goal of asthma treatment is to achieve controlled asthma, which means that you can live an active life without limitations, despite your asthma. Test if your asthma is controlled here:
Type II inflammation as underlying cause of asthma
Recent asthma research has identified a type of inflammation called type 2 inflammation, which turns out to be a cause of difficult-to-treat persistent asthma in some patients. Therefore, asthma is divided into two categories: type 2 asthma, and non-type 2 asthma. Almost 90% of people with severe asthma have type 2 inflammation.
It is important to know if you have type 2 inflammation, as it may require a different treatment strategy. You can find out if you have type 2 inflammation by measuring three biomarkers, with tests done with breath samples and blood samples.
> 50 %
of all people with asthma overestimate their symptom control.
Severe asthma
It is common for the disease not to be detected. Now is the time to change that! Let's raise awareness about severe asthma and its consequences.
What type of asthma do you have?
The causes of asthma can vary and there are several different types of asthma. Both the attacks and the symptoms can differ in frequency and severity.
- Fahy JV. Nat Rev Immunol. 2015;15:57–65.
- Fletcher M, Primary Care Resp J.2013; 24:432-43
- Reddel HK, et al. N Engl J Med. 2019;380(10):975-985
- Israel E, Reddel HK. N Engl J Med. 2017;377:965–976.
Sanofi Belgium, MAT-BE-2500525. V.1. 04/2025