The Expert Panel Report 3 (EPR-3) Full Report 2007: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma was developed by an expert panel commissioned by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) Coordinating Committee (CC), coordinated by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Using the 1997 EPR-2 guidelines and the 2002 update on selected topics as the framework, the expert panel organized the literature review and updated recommendations for managing asthma long term and for managing exacerbations around four essential components of asthma care, namely: assessment and monitoring, patient education, control of factors contributing to asthma severity, and pharmacologic treatment. Subtopics were developed for each of these four broad categories.