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Effect of age on bronchial reactivity in children with asthma

Hiroyuki Mochizuki1, Hirokazu Arakawa, Kenichi Tokuyama

  • 1Gunma University, Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and Developmental Medicine, Gunma, Japan. mochihi@med.gunma-u.ac.jp

The Journal of Asthma : Official Journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma
|February 2, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Childhood asthma shows age-related changes in bronchial reactivity. Bronchial reactivity, measured by methacholine (SPO2) and respiratory resistance (SRrs), differs between asthmatic and control children, with distinct patterns emerging with age.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Respiratory Physiology
  • Asthma Research

Background:

  • Limited understanding of age-related changes in bronchial reactivity in children.
  • Bronchial sensitivity data is abundant, but reactivity patterns across childhood remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between age and bronchial reactivity in children with asthma.
  • To compare bronchial reactivity in asthmatic children versus age-matched controls.

Main Methods:

  • Studied 511 asthmatic children and 115 controls (ages 1-16).
  • Assessed bronchial reactivity using methacholine (SPO2) for younger children and respiratory resistance (SRrs) for older children.
  • Analyzed dose-response curves to determine reactivity slopes.

Main Results:

  • Asthmatic subjects exhibited higher SPO2 and SRrs than controls.
  • SPO2 increased significantly in asthmatic children from ages 1-6, plateauing after age 7.
  • SRrs decreased in asthmatic children after age 13, unlike controls.

Conclusions:

  • Bronchial reactivity undergoes age-related changes throughout childhood in asthmatic children.
  • These changes may reflect airway smooth muscle maturation in early childhood and airway wall rigidity in later childhood.
  • Findings highlight distinct developmental trajectories of bronchial reactivity in pediatric asthma.

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