Bronchial asthma is a common chronic respiratory disease in China. The authors identify substantial variability in the quality of asthma diagnosis and treatment across different regions and levels of health care institutions. This heterogeneity prompted development of a standardized plan aimed at establishing disease-specific asthma outpatient clinics to reduce variability and improve clinical care.
The document is presented as a pilot implementation plan intended to guide the construction and operation of specialized asthma clinics. The proposal is positioned within the broader framework of standardized development criteria for Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (PCCM), indicating that the asthma clinic standards are meant to integrate with existing department-level quality and structure expectations.
The principal goals stated in the abstract are to provide a reference framework for the establishment of asthma specialty outpatient services and to enhance capacity for asthma management. A particular emphasis is placed on improving management of severe asthma, which the authors note is frequently poorly controlled and prone to acute exacerbations. Poor control and recurrent exacerbations are highlighted as causes of reduced patient quality of life and increased socioeconomic burden.
By setting standardized requirements for asthma outpatient clinics, the plan aims to address gaps in diagnosis, therapy, and longitudinal care so that patients across regions and institution levels receive more consistent, guideline-based management.
The writing group developed the standards by drawing on both domestic and international asthma guidelines and relevant literature. These sources were synthesized within the PCCM standardized development criteria framework to produce the proposed clinic standards. The affiliations listed for the work include the Chinese Thoracic Society of the Chinese Medical Association, the Respiratory Medicine Professional Committee of the Chinese Research Hospital Association, and an Expert Group from the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Asthma Specialty Capacity Enhancement Program.
The PubMed record indicates that the writing group explicitly considered existing guideline recommendations and evidence in formulating the scheme, but the abstract does not reproduce specific guideline citations or the exact content of the standards.
The abstract emphasizes three interrelated concerns:
Diagnostic and treatment practices for asthma vary substantially by location and institutional level in China.
Severe asthma has notably poor clinical control and a high rate of acute exacerbations.
These shortcomings adversely affect patients' quality of life and impose large socioeconomic costs.
The proposed asthma outpatient clinic standards are framed as an intervention to reduce such variability and to strengthen management, particularly for patients with severe disease. The plan is portrayed as intended to raise diagnostic accuracy, standardize therapeutic approaches, and improve follow-up and exacerbation prevention, although the abstract does not list operational protocols or performance measures.
The pilot plan is offered as a reference for establishing disease-specific asthma clinics across China. Its integration with PCCM standardized development criteria suggests attention to institutional structure, staffing, and possibly quality metrics consistent with department-level expectations. The PubMed abstract states the aim of increasing overall asthma management capacity and explicitly highlights improving care for severe asthma patients.
The public record provided here does not include the full implementation checklist, specific staffing recommendations, required equipment, training curricula, or metrics for monitoring clinic performance. For operational details and the complete standard, the full text is available via the Chinese Medical Association Publishing House link noted in the PubMed record.
The article was published in Zhonghua Jie He He Hu Xi Za Zhi and is dated 2026 Oct 12;49(10):1082-1094 with DOI 10.3760/cma.j.cn112147-20260512-00270 and PMID 42811565.
The PubMed entry lists funding from the 2024ZD0529800/Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases-National Science and Technology Major Project. All authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The summary and abstract in the PubMed record describe the rationale, development approach, and intended aims of the pilot standardized scheme for asthma outpatient clinics, but do not include the full standard text or granular implementation details. Users seeking operational criteria, stepwise implementation guidance, or pilot site data should consult the full text available through the journal or publisher link cited in the PubMed entry.
(End of rewritten summary based solely on the PubMed abstract and metadata.)