Asthma is one of the world’s most common chronic diseases, affecting over 500 million people. Asthma exacerbations—commonly known as asthma attacks—are a major cause of disease morbidity and health care costs.

Despite the prevalence of asthma, clinicians currently lack reliable biomarkers to identify which patients are at high risk for future attacks. Current methods often fail to distinguish between stable patients and those prone to severe exacerbations.

The study analyzed data from three large asthma cohorts totaling over 2,500 participants, backed by decades of electronic medical records. Researchers used a high throughput approach called metabolomics to measure small molecules in the blood of individuals with asthma.