Milger K, Korn S, Buhl R, et al. - Researchers analyzed children and adults with severe asthma (n = 1,317) from the German Asthma Net registry in order to determine age- and gender-dependent discrepancies in this patient group. The registry comprised of more adults than children and more women (57%) than men, apart from children < 18 years. The age of first diagnosis ranged from 0 to 76 years. Following short acting bronchodilators, a positive bronchial reversibility was noted in 38% of patients. With older age, they noted a reduction in quality of life, FEV1 and MEF 25 whereas treatment with oral steroids and monoclonal antibodies increased. Patients aged around 57 years were most commonly managed with an anti-eosinophil treatment, while the use of an anti-IgE treatment in all age-groups including children was reported. They also documented gender-dependent variations with lower values in men for FEV1, FVC, MEF 25 and DLCO. Compared with men, the inability to work because of the disease was more commonly reported among women. In this patient populace with severe asthma, age- and gender-dependent differences in clinical characteristics as well as in treatments were evident, indicating different phenotypes of the disease.