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The natural history of childhood-onset asthma

Alessandro Fiocchi1, Luigi Terracciano, Alberto Martelli

  • 1Department of Child and Maternal Medicine, The Fatebenefratelli-Melloni Hospital, Milan, Italy. allerg@tin.it

Allergy and Asthma Proceedings
|August 18, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Understanding childhood asthma

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Epidemiology of Respiratory Diseases

Background:

  • Knowledge of asthma's natural history in early life is crucial for effective prevention and treatment strategies.
  • Asthma and respiratory allergies in children require comprehensive understanding from infancy through adulthood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review clinical evidence on the natural history of pediatric asthma across various age groups.
  • To identify key risk factors and predictive indexes for asthma development and persistence in children.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic literature search of PubMed for natural history studies of asthma and respiratory allergy in children up to August 2005.
  • Analysis of prospective studies assessing asthma progression from infancy to adulthood.

Main Results:

  • Few studies prospectively tracked asthma natural history from infancy to adulthood.
  • Identified risk factors can form prognostic indexes, but their accuracy leans towards screening over diagnosis.
  • Parental asthma history, personal eczema, and specific immunologic markers are better indicators of infant asthma development.

Conclusions:

  • The natural history of childhood asthma provides a foundation for developing accurate predictors of wheezing and asthma persistence.
  • In the absence of genetic markers, clinical and immunological factors are key indicators for predicting asthma development in infants.

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