Contemporary Concise Review 2019: Asthma

Treatable traits and a multidisciplinary assessment identify the heterogeneous problems associated with asthma, especially in those with severe disease.• The evolution of new biomarkers to assess disease in asthma continues to develop, with patient-reported outcomes, measures of exercise capacity, the application of oscillometry and optical coherence tomography.• Obesity and its impact on asthma remains an important and emerging area of research.• The application of bronchial thermoplasty in severe asthma improves clinical symptoms with the treatment acting primarily on second-to seventh-generation airways, reducing gas trapping and dynamic hyperinflation that can be associated with severe asthma; predicting responders remains to be defined.