Update on the BTS/SIGN/NICE Joint Guideline for the Diagnosis, Monitoring and Management of Chronic Asthma

The British Thoracic Society (BTS), Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have been working together to produce future UK-wide guidance for the diagnosis and management of chronic asthma in adults, young people and children. 

This guideline will be available for consultation in May/June 2024 and it is intended that the final document will be published in October 2024. The guideline will: 

- support health professionals in making accurate diagnoses and providing effective treatments to control the condition and prevent acute asthma attacks 

- promote good practice and include recommendations in areas where differences in guidance had previously existed between the organisations. 

The scope of this guideline is available here.  

The new “asthma pathway”, which will include the new guidelines as part of a broader set of guidance and materials produced by BTS, SIGN and NICE, on diagnosing and managing asthma throughout an individual’s lifetime will also be launched in October 2024. 

BTS and SIGN have been working together to agree on the actions to be taken in relation to revalidating/updating the areas covered in the BTS/SIGN Guideline on the management of asthma (SIGN 158) that fall outside the scope of the collaborative guideline: 

The following approach is planned: 

- Revalidate and reformat ‘Management of acute asthma’ (existing section 9) as a standalone guideline, with further review in 3 years’ time. 
- Review and refresh ‘Non-pharmacological management’ (section 6) and ‘Occupational asthma’ (section 13) and produce as standalone guidelines, with further review in 3 years’ time. These sections would be updated to reflect new evidence in environmental factors, air purification and breathing. 
- Produce a new standalone guideline on uncontrolled asthma that includes guidance on pharmacological management (specifically biologics), assessment, phenotyping, high-risk patients, biomarkers and monitoring (replacing the existing sections 7 and 10). 
- Review and update the accompanying patient booklet. 

It is intended that the revalidated/refreshed sections of the guidance will be available in late 2024, and a timetable for the new guideline will be made available in due course.