The 2026 GINA strategy report summary keeps its core position: all adults, adolescents, children and most preschool children with asthma should receive treatment containing an inhaled corticosteroid, and GINA recommends against treatment with a short-acting beta-agonist alone.
For adults and adolescents, the preferred approach (Track 1) uses low-dose ICS-formoterol as an anti-inflammatory reliever, either as needed only or as maintenance-and-reliever therapy, because it reduces severe exacerbations compared with SABA-based regimens. The report stresses objective confirmation of diagnosis, regular review of lung function, inhaler technique, adherence and comorbidities, and stewardship of systemic corticosteroids.
The 2026 changes include more anti-inflammatory reliever options for adults and children, revised guidance on severe asthma and choosing a biologic, and substantial updates to acute asthma care, including reassessment of long-term treatment after an exacerbation. The summary does not detail each change, so check the full report before altering protocols.
- Avoid prescribing a SABA inhaler alone for asthma at any age where GINA applies.
- Consider low-dose ICS-formoterol as the reliever, as needed or as maintenance-and-reliever therapy, in adults and adolescents.
- Confirm the diagnosis objectively with spirometry or peak flow variability where possible.
- After every exacerbation, review the long-term plan and action plan before discharge.
Why it matters
SABA-only treatment remains common, and it is the pattern most linked to severe exacerbations.
Read the rest in the app
You have read your two free briefings this month. The app carries all 27 specialties, every morning, free — and this finding is waiting in it.
Scan to keep reading on your phone. No account needed to start.
Tomorrow morning, before your first patient
One edition a day for pulmonology, written by the desk, every claim tied to its paper. Six minutes.
Get the app — free