The British Thoracic Society's (BTS) asthma management guidelines are to be jointly revised by the BTS and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), in collaboration with the National Asthma Campaign, the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Dr Martyn Partridge (chairman, BTS executive committee) told The Journal recently that draft guidelines were to be discussed in June, 2001, with publication expected in the first quarter of 2002.
Commenting on the revision, Dr Partridge said that at this stage an "open mind" was being kept as to the format and content of any recommendations. Updated guidelines would be "comprehensive and evidence based." In the meantime, practitioners should continue to use the previous guidelines, which were published in 1997, he said.