[Asthma prevention and management guidelines 2015, Japan: comparison with GINA2015].

Asthma prevention and management guidelines (JGL) 2015 were published by the Japanese Society of Allergology. In the JGL2015, asthma is characterized by chronic airway inflam- mation and symptoms, such as wheeze and cough, that vary over time as also described in Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2015. Concerning the pharmacotherapy for asthma, medications are divided into 2:types, such as controller agents used continuously for long-term management (controllers) and reliever agents used for a short period to treat asthma symptoms(relievers) in both the JGL2015 and GINA2015. Asthma treatment is divided into 4 treatment steps based on the asthma sever- ity in the JGL2015, and into 5 steps in the GINA2015.