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Asthma is a common condition which produces a significant workload for general practice, hospital outpatient clinics and inpatient admissions. It is clear that much of this morbidity relates to poor management particularly the under use of preventative medicine.

In 1999 the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) agreed to jointly produce a comprehensive new asthma guideline, both having previously published guidance on asthma. The original BTS guideline dated back to 1990 and the SIGN guidelines to 1996. Both organisations recognised the need to develop the new guideline using explicitly evidence based methodology. The joint process was further strengthened by collaboration with Asthma UK, the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the General Practice Airways Group (now Primary Care Respiratory Society UK), and the British Association of Accident and Emergency Medicine (now the College of Emergency Medicine). The outcome of these efforts was the British Guideline on the Management of Asthma published in 2003.1

The 2003 guideline was developed using SIGN methodology. Electronic literature searches extended to 1995,although some sections required searches back as far as 1966. pharmacological management section utilised the North of England Asthma guideline to address some of the key questions on adult management. The North of England guideline literature search covered a period from 1984 to December 1997, and SIGN augmented this with a search from 1997 onwards.