Difficult asthma: people's perspectives on taking corticosteroid therapy.

Aims And Objectives: This study aimed to explore the experiences of patients with difficult asthma, who take corticosteroid therapy, and provide insight into why some patients comply with therapy, whilst others do not.

Background: Asthma is growing in prevalence and affects more than 100 million people worldwide. Corticosteroids are the mainstay treatment but, despite considerable risk to the individual in terms of morbidity and mortality, compliance is low.

Inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: implications for new treatment strategies.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a treatable and preventable disease but current predictions are that it will continue to rise as an important cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. COPD is a complex inflammatory disease with both airway and parenchymal lung injury. Currently there is growing recognition that the inflammatory response extends beyond the lung, with evidence of systemic inflammation, which may account for the multi-organ effects associated with COPD.