Early prognosis of acute asthma in the emergency room.

Objective: To evaluate clinical and pulmonary function measurements taken in the first fifteen minutes of the assessment of acute asthma in the emergency room and used for prognostic purposes.

Methods: A prospective cohort study involving consecutive patients with acute asthma. Only patients who were between the ages of 12 and 55 and presented peak expiratory flow rates < or = 50% of predicted were included.